Robot scientist makes gene discovery

UK researchers have created a 'robot scientist' that they believe to be the first machine to independently come up with new scientific findings.

While most robots are built to repeat a given task many times over, this robot, named 'Adam', was designed by researchers from Aberystwyth University and the University of Cambridge to take a more human approach to scientific inquiry. It carries out scientific research automatically, without the need for further human intervention.

"Ultimately, we hope to have teams of human and robot scientists working together in laboratories," Professor Ross King (pictured, left), who led the research at Aberystwyth's Department of Computer Science, said in a statement.

Images courtesy of Aberystwyth University.