Programmable Cloud Laboratories (PCL) Test Bed Initiative

Programmable Cloud Laboratories (PCL) Test Bed Initiative is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF) (in partnership with Astera Institute). This initiative aims to build a national network of automated laboratory infrastructure to advance AI and automated instrumentation for scientific experimentation and data collection.

NSF announces $400M investment in new national network of AI-programmable cloud laboratories in alignment with the U.S. government's Genesis Mission | NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation NSF announces $400M investment in new national network of AI-programmable cloud laboratories in alignment with the U.S. government's Genesis Mission Credit: U.S. National Science Foundation Awardees will test, scale and demonstrate new methods and tools that advance automated science and engineering for discovery and translation The U.S. National Science Foundation announced an inaugural investment of $380 million to 20 teams to establish a nationwide network of artificial intelligence-enabled automated laboratories across the United States.

These investments represent a core NSF contribution to the U.S. government's Genesis Mission, a national effort to harness AI for scientific discovery, and the "Achieving AI-Driven Autonomous Laboratories" challenge in particular.

The investment is matched by upwards of $20 million in philanthropic contributions from the Astera Institute, which will work with selected teams to prioritize open science, reusability and reproducibility, AI-readiness of data, and the rapid publication of data and results.

Through the NSF Test Bed: Toward a Network of Programmable Cloud Laboratories (NSF PCL Test Bed) initiative, awardees will receive funding for four years to establish a national network to test, scale and demonstrate new methods and tools that advance automated science and engineering, drive discoveries and innovations in a wide range of fields and strengthen U.S. leadership for years to come.

The NSF PCL Test Bed program directly implements a priority of the White House AI Action Plan as well as a recommendation of the bipartisan National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology to accelerate AI-enabled science through automated laboratory infrastructure.

The programmable cloud labs funded through this investment will meet this mission through the automation of scientific discovery and innovation while helping more U.S. based labs access such cutting-edge capabilities.

"The NSF Programmable Cloud Laboratories initiative will unlock new discoveries in a wide range of fields and while also advancing AI-enabled technologies that form the backbone of the automated science revolution," said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF assistant director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships.

"These awards represent a significant step toward achieving a virtuous cycle of automated hypothesis generation, autonomous experimentation and generation and interpretation of large volumes of high-quality experimental data to drive the next set of hypotheses, all with researchers and students alongside the automated systems at every step of the way."

"The PCL initiative has the potential to advance open science and shift scientific publishing practices in a sustained and usable way to better prepare for a future enabled by AI," said Seemay Chou, president of the Astera Institute. "With its emphasis on automated experimentation, the program provides a unique opportunity to experiment with standards and tools for research workflows, data stewardship, and broader reuse."

The PCL Test Bed initiative will transform how U.S. researchers conduct science and engineering experiments. The national PCL Test Bed will be remotely accessible and capable of running custom, user-programmed AI-enabled workflows and will help bring innovations in automated laboratories and AI for science into practical use during scientific and engineering experiments.

The initial set of PCL Nodes covers a range of disciplines including biology, biotechnology, biochemistry, chemistry, soft materials, 2D materials, metals, material characterization and electronics. At the same time, the use of PCL Nodes in conducting these experiments will in turn inform advances in AI systems, unlocking innovations in automated laboratories themselves.

NSF is partnering with the Astera Institute, a science and technology philanthropy dedicated to accelerating discovery by experimenting with how research is funded and executed. Astera is particularly committed to updating publishing practices to prioritize and improve robust scientific utility.

NSF and Astera believe that the impact and rigor of science can be greatly improved if a fuller range of scientific outputs are openly released through faster and more collaborative approaches built with modern technologies.

Astera will contribute resources to standardize metadata, data and AI across the PCL Test Bed to enhance the reliability, reproducibility, reuse and interoperability of the science by supporting protocols and platforms for data sharing, open data and new modes for publishing scientific results, including data.

This partnership will further contribute to the transformation of science workflows envisioned by the PCL Test Bed initiative, including how experimental protocols and data and results are shared. The PCL Test Bed program is an example of how the federal government is investing in accelerating critical and emerging technologies for U.S. leadership in technology, security and energy.

Several PCL Nodes include participation by the U.S. Department of Energy National Labs. Learn more about the NSF PCL initiative .