Texas A&M University has announced the Aggie AI Foundry, a laboratory created by professors Raymundo Arróyave and Ibrahim Karaman. The lab will include a fully automated system that uses artificial intelligence and robotic workers to develop metal alloys. The university said this could reduce development time from months to just days. Robots will mix, melt and test materials using computer-controlled arms along an assembly line, according to the university. AI could ultimately test as many as a trillion combinations of periodic elements.
The Aggie AI Foundry is supported by the WoodNext Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by Roku CEO Anthony Wood and his wife, Rusan. Both are university alumni.
Arróyave said some students, researchers and others have raised concerns that a lab relying on AI and robots rather than humans would dilute the metallurgy profession. He said automation could take over tedious tasks and let researchers focus on higher-level work. He called humans "fundamental" to the process and said the lab will train a new kind of scientist.