The automation of science

Ross D. King; Jem Rowland; Stephen G. Oliver; Michael Young; Wayne Aubrey; Emma Byrne; Maria Liakata; Magdalena Markham; Pinar Pir; Larisa N. Soldatova; Andrew Sparkes; Kenneth E. Whelan; Amanda Clare

doi:10.1126/science.1165620

The automation of science

Ross D. King, Jem Rowland, Stephen G. Oliver, Michael Young, Wayne Aubrey, Emma Byrne, Maria Liakata, Magdalena Markham, Pinar Pir, Larisa N. Soldatova, Andrew Sparkes, Kenneth E. Whelan, Amanda Clare

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Abstract

The basis of science is the hypothetico-deductive method and the recording of experiments in sufficient detail to enable reproducibility. We report the development of Robot Scientist -Adam- which advances the automation of both. Adam has autonomously generated functional genomics hypotheses about the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and experimentally tested these hypotheses by using laboratory automation. We have confirmed Adam's conclusions through manual experiments. To describe Adam's research, we have developed an ontology and logical language. The resulting formalization involves over 10,000 different research units in a nested treelike structure, 10 levels deep, that relates the 6.6 million biomass measurements to their logical description. This formalization describes how a machine contributed to scientific knowledge.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	85-89
Number of pages	4
Journal	Science
Volume	324
Issue number	5923
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1165620
Publication status	Published - 3 Apr 2009

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abstract = "The basis of science is the hypothetico-deductive method and the recording of experiments in sufficient detail to enable reproducibility. We report the development of Robot Scientist -Adam- which advances the automation of both. Adam has autonomously generated functional genomics hypotheses about the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and experimentally tested these hypotheses by using laboratory automation. We have confirmed Adam's conclusions through manual experiments. To describe Adam's research, we have developed an ontology and logical language. The resulting formalization involves over 10,000 different research units in a nested treelike structure, 10 levels deep, that relates the 6.6 million biomass measurements to their logical description. This formalization describes how a machine contributed to scientific knowledge.",

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AU - King, Ross D.

AU - Rowland, Jem

AU - Oliver, Stephen G.

AU - Young, Michael

AU - Aubrey, Wayne

AU - Byrne, Emma

AU - Liakata, Maria

AU - Markham, Magdalena

AU - Pir, Pinar

AU - Soldatova, Larisa N.

AU - Sparkes, Andrew

AU - Whelan, Kenneth E.

AU - Clare, Amanda

PY - 2009/4/3

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AB - The basis of science is the hypothetico-deductive method and the recording of experiments in sufficient detail to enable reproducibility. We report the development of Robot Scientist -Adam- which advances the automation of both. Adam has autonomously generated functional genomics hypotheses about the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and experimentally tested these hypotheses by using laboratory automation. We have confirmed Adam's conclusions through manual experiments. To describe Adam's research, we have developed an ontology and logical language. The resulting formalization involves over 10,000 different research units in a nested treelike structure, 10 levels deep, that relates the 6.6 million biomass measurements to their logical description. This formalization describes how a machine contributed to scientific knowledge.

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The automation of science

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