Robot scientist makes gene discovery

Adam is a still a prototype, but King's team — which is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, among others — believes another robot, Eve, holds promise for scientists searching for new drugs to combat diseases such as malaria and schistosomiasis, an infection caused by a type of parasitic worm in the tropics.

"Ultimately", King said, "we hope to have teams of human and robot scientists working together in laboratories".