PNNL

Imagine compressing years of scientific trial-and-error into days. That’s a capability Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is providing with a new generation of continuously learning scientific platforms—platforms where AI, robotics, and intelligent data architecture work in concert to transform experiments into rapid “Aha!” moments. 

Core to this is the Center for Robotics and Autonomy @PNNL, where automated systems combine with state-of-the-science AI and data systems to change how science happens. Through integrated learning systems, science is shifting from manual, step-by-step execution to closed-loop, continuously improving discovery.

Autonomy begins with automation, but it doesn’t end there. In truly autonomous systems, data pipelines, decision-making AI, and robotics operate as one tightly coupled and validated system.

Autonomous systems can sense when conditions drift from the desired range, adopt a new strategy, and adjust to emerging information, while documenting each adjustment to maintain rigor. The hardware thinks. The software acts. And the whole system learns.

Across PNNL, in fields as diverse as biotechnology and critical materials separation, autonomous science is yielding solutions to thorny research questions. At PNNL, autonomy is built into new mission areas, from chemistry to biology to new energy storage applications.

Mission of the Center for Robotics and Autonomy

The Center for Robotics and Autonomy elevates our leadership by bringing autonomous experimentation to our laboratories and field environments. It houses a road map and a toolkit for scientists incorporating automation and autonomy into their workflows and performs the research and development required for autonomous experiments to be systematically validated and demonstrably reliable. The center achieves this through four goals:

1. Foster a robust autonomy workforce: steward a team of autonomous systems experts that serves as a deployable resource to scientists and engineers bringing autonomy to their science. Host technical forums, workshops, and collaborative events to connect autonomy experts within and beyond PNNL.
2. Develop and deploy an autonomy architecture: provide a generalizable, adaptable infrastructure for PNNL’s diverse missions. This infrastructure provides automation and robotics, interfaces with scientific instruments, and houses agentic platforms for experimental execution. The Center for Robotics and Autonomy ensures reusable assets are broadly discoverable and easily integrated into the mission and has responsibility over where PNNL invests and discretion over internal resources.
3. Further the field of autonomy: coordinate research advancing the state of the art in autonomy with a focus on assurance in the face of complex scientific tasks, partnering closely with the Center for AI.
4. Integrate research and operations: use our campus to demonstrate autonomy in operations that move at the pace of science, seamlessly integrating operations into autonomous experimentation.