{"id":61406,"date":"2025-01-08T14:24:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T13:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fhi.nl\/?post_type=news&p=61406"},"modified":"2025-09-02T16:18:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T14:18:05","slug":"wilhelm-huck-over-het-robotlaboratorium-van-de-toekomst-ai-en-chemie-zijn-een-briljante-combinatie","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/fhi.nl\/en\/news\/wilhelm-huck-over-het-robotlaboratorium-van-de-toekomst-ai-en-chemie-zijn-een-briljante-combinatie\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilhelm Huck on the robotic lab of the future: \u201cAI and chemistry are a brilliant combination\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By: Eline te Velde<\/h6>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tWilhelm Huck on the robotic lab of the future: \u201cAI and chemistry are a brilliant combination\u201d\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\t\t\t
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With almost 100 million euros in funding from the National Growth Fund, professor of physical-organic chemistry Wilhelm Huck is developing a fully automated laboratory. By combining chemistry with artificial intelligence (AI), the materials of the future are designed <\/strong>\u2013a breakthrough in the materials transition. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cA huge materials transition is coming,\u201d says Wilhelm Huck, professor of physical-organic chemistry at Radboud University Nijmegen. With the growing need to leave fossil resources behind, new materials are becoming essential. The traditional trial and error <\/em>approach in chemistry can\u2019t keep up. \u201cThis method takes an incredibly long time. In addition, AI enables us to search further than we are used to. AI is not limited by background knowledge and can go beyond the existing search area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robot Lab<\/h4>\n

To harness this potential, Huck is leading the development of a revolutionary robotics lab. In this lab, robots and AI come together to fully automate chemistry and accelerate the development of biobased materials. \u201cWe need to introduce new compounds very quickly in all kinds of applications, which ultimately have the same effect. That is difficult, because the properties of mixtures are difficult to predict. That is why I think AI and chemistry are a really brilliant combination.\u201d<\/p>\n

The robot lab, which is supported by an investment of almost 100 million euros from the National Growth Fund, uses self-driving modules. \u201cSelf-driving modules perform experiments independently and generate as much data as possible with as few steps as possible,\u201d says Huck. Ultimately, these modules must work together in one integrated system. \u201cWe are now in the phase where we order and test smaller robots and systems. The goal is to have a fully integrated and automated lab in seven years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biobased materials<\/h4>\n

According to Huck, biobased materials come with unique challenges. \u201cMaterials from the factory are clean, precisely defined and reproducible. Always the same. The way we develop products is based on those well-defined compounds that we get from the fossil industry. Biobased materials are never identical. Take sugar beets for example. Sugar beets from the Netherlands are different from those from France. Ultimately, you want to design more robust products that are still good if there is a small deviation.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the applications the robotics lab is currently working on is the development of alcohol-free beer. \u201cTogether with a beer producer, we are developing a process to make beer that smells and tastes like a normal variant, but does not contain any alcohol,\u201d Huck explains. \u201cIn a groundbreaking project, we are now trying to make thousands of variants to come close to the desired product. In the future, we hope that you can simply describe the desired smell and taste profile, and the AI will then determine the ingredients and mix them just right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huck emphasizes that the lab is a co-creation. Companies must eventually use the technology. \u201cWe do not think about what companies need. The danger is that we develop solutions that are of no use to the industry. That is why we involve companies in the process from the beginning and translate their problems into practical solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Researcher of the future<\/h4>\n

The robot lab is not only changing chemistry, but also the role of the researcher. \u201cIn the future, scientists will no longer perform experiments,\u201d predicts Huck. \u201cThey will formulate hypotheses, while robots and AI will take over the execution and analysis. We will become increasingly distant from the practical execution and we will think more about the problem we want to solve.\u201d<\/p>\n

This also creates new demands on researchers. \u201cScientists need knowledge of multiple disciplines, such as chemistry and programming. Or they work in teams where different expertise comes together.\u201d AI also makes it possible to think more freely. \u201cWe often work within the limitations of what is practically possible. If those boundaries disappear, solutions emerge that we don\u2019t even dare to think about now.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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