The Autonomous Research System, an open-source software program developed by Air Force Research Laboratory scientists, is now available online as a free download, thanks to a new licensing agreement. ARES OS, a product 10 years in the making, aims to transform the research process by exploiting artificial intelligence and autonomy.
“Our goal [in offering this software to the public] is to make research faster and more effective for everyone, and accelerate technological discovery orders of magnitude faster than we can today,” said Dr. Benji Maruyama, AFRL Autonomous Materials and ARES OS team lead. “Ultimately, we hope to free scientists from traditional research processes and spark an explosion of scientific understanding.”
ARES OS allows users to transform automated experiments and carbon nanotube synthesis reactors into autonomous ‘research robots’ capable of directing and conducting their own research using artificial intelligence and automation. These ‘robots’ support human research efforts by analyzing various methods of discovery/data collection, identifying the most efficient ones and then learning the quickest way to accomplish certain tasks.