Researchers have developed what they say is a breakthrough robotic lab assistant, able to move around a laboratory and conduct scientific experiments just like a human.

The main benefit of a tool like this, he says, is that it allows scientists to explore avenues of research they wouldn’t waste a human’s time on.

“The idea is not to do things we would do faster, but to do bigger, more ambitious things we wouldn’t otherwise try to tackle,” says Cooper.

The results of the tests are promising, but Cooper notes he wouldn’t have asked a human to even carry out the research, given how much time it would take and how it might distract them from their studies.

Lee Cronin, a professor of chemistry at the University of Glasgow who also uses automated equipment in his work, said the main advance of the research was the robot’s mobility and its ability to use human equipment.

He also says that while some scientific research can be automated using static machines, the flexibility of a robot that can be reprogrammed to take on a variety of tasks is ultimately more useful.

“The idea was to automate the researcher, rather than the instrument,” says Cooper.