Ideas for representing fully autonomous vs. human intervention

[sgbaird]

#5 got me thinking about this. There are examples where human intervention is very minimal or only a single step (e.g., transferring a sample) that I want to include.

I've been thinking about how I can either restructure or modify the presentation to capture this.

This got me thinking about emojis, similar to the starred lists that I use.

While the following are applicable, it doesn't allow for any in-between.

🦾 vs. 💪
🤖 vs. 🧑

If there were clearly defined levels of autonomy like with cars we could put the number 1️⃣ 2️⃣ ...

We could also clarify which aspects are autonomous. Some possible categories and emoji are:

• Synthesis 🧪 or ⚗️
• Characterization 🔬 or🌡️
• Sample transfer 🦾 or 🏗️
• Experiment planning 💻 or 🐍 or ➿ or 🔃 or 🧠

So fully autonomous might look like:
🧪/🔬/🦾/💻

Maybe partial would be:
🧪/🔬/❌/💻

[sgbaird]

For example:

• 🧪/🔬/🦾/💻 Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• 🧪/🔬/❌/💻 Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

[sgbaird]

Suggestion from @stanlo229:

Use "building construction" (🏗️) or "inbox tray" (:inbox_tray:) (maybe preference towards 🏗️).

So this would look like:

• 🧪/🔬/🏗️/💻 Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• 🧪/🔬/❌/💻 Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

Or:

• 🧪/🔬/📥/💻 Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• 🧪/🔬/❌/💻 Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

Following up on this, I think a benefit of 🏗️ over 🦾 is that 🦾 may be more likely to be confused with a different topic than sample transfer, e.g., automation in general.

[sgbaird]

Some other thoughts:

• How is / as a separator?
• Is it better to put the emoji at the beginning or the end?
• Alternatives to ❌?
• The README needs to be updated to explain the emoji, maybe a table.

Other separators

|

I think I like this one the best.

• 🧪|🔬|🏗️|💻Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• 🧪|🔬|❌|💻Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

blank

• 🧪 🔬 🏗️ 💻 Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• 🧪 🔬 ❌ 💻 Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

no space

• 🧪🔬🏗️💻 Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• 🧪🔬❌💻 Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

enclosing

• [🧪🔬🏗️💻] Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• [🧪🔬❌💻] Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

Emoji at end

I prefer it at the beginning. It aligns better and doesn't run the risk of getting broken across the page.

• Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867. 🧪/🔬/🏗️/💻
• Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C. 🧪/🔬/❌/💻

Alternatives to ❌

• ✖️
• 🚫
• 🛠️
• 🚧

I think I like ✖️ or 🚧 the best. ✖️ seems more neutral without the red, but still has a pretty clear meaning. 🚧 implies more of an "under construction" (meaning it might be or could be implemented in the future), but I think the interpretation is more ambiguous than ✖️.

✖️

• 🧪|🔬|🏗️|💻Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• 🧪|🔬|✖️|💻Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

🚫

• 🧪|🔬|🏗️|💻Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• 🧪|🔬|🚫|💻Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

🛠️

• 🧪|🔬|🏗️|💻Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• 🧪|🔬|🛠️|💻Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

🚧

• 🧪|🔬|🏗️|💻Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• 🧪|🔬|🚧|💻Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

[sgbaird]

@stefanbringuier, @stanlo229, and @kiranvad, curious to get your thoughts on this.

I'm leaning towards this configuration.

Emoji Key

Category	Emoji
Synthesis	🧪
Characterization	🔬
Sample transfer	🏗️
Experiment planning	💻
Manual intervention	✖️

Example

• 🧪|🔬|🏗️|💻Self-Driving Laboratory for Accelerated Discovery of Thin-Film Materials. MacLeod, B. P.; Parlane, F. G. L.; Morrissey, T. D.; Häse, F.; Roch, L. M.; Dettelbach, K. E.; Moreira, R.; Yunker, L. P. E.; Rooney, M. B.; Deeth, J. R.; Lai, V.; Ng, G. J.; Situ, H.; Zhang, R. H.; Elliott, M. S.; Haley, T. H.; Dvorak, D. J.; Aspuru-Guzik, A.; Hein, J. E.; Berlinguette, C. P. Sci. Adv. 2020, 6 (20), eaaz8867.
• 🧪|🔬|✖️|💻Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

[stanlo229]

@sgbaird I love what you’ve done here. My favourite has to be the same emojis but I prefer “/“ as the separator because “|” reminds me too much of the “or” symbol in logic / code. “/“ makes it look like it’s different parts. Perhaps even “>” could be a separator because it points to the next stage of the SDL?

[stefanbringuier]

@sgbaird I really like this! Here is my take on some.

Category	Emoji
Fully-Auto sample transfer	🤖
Semi-Auto sample transfer	🦾 + 🧑‍🔧
Manual sample transfer	✋

So an entry with semi-auto behavior, would look like:

• 🧪|🔬|🦾+🧑‍🔧|💻

For experimental planning, I could also see using 📊 or 📆, but 💻 is better.

[sgbaird]

Great suggestion! To help make it more concrete for me, can you provide some examples of what semi-auto sample transfer looks like?

[stefanbringuier]

I don't have a reference on hand at the moment, but my thinking for using 🦾 + 🧑‍🔧 would be if you had a sequence that might look like:

Synthesis Step. CVD synthesis (:test_tube: ) is automated via robotic(:mechanical_arm: ) and control system that carries out steps to move a substrate into a furnace, set mass flow controllers, gas mixers, and furnace zones to deposit a thin film.

Properties/Characterization Step. Sample transfer for micro-hardness testing is automated whereby a robotic (:mechanical_arm:) system could remove sample from the CVD furnace, place the sample on a micro-hardness testing stage and an automated system (:computer:) then measures hardness. However, let's say SEM(:microscope:) is needed and requires human (:mechanic:) intervention to prepare and/or put the sample into the chamber, which can then be followed by an automated (:computer:) imaging workflow.

Now that I think about it, this could be a bit ambiguous as to what parts are semi-automated with just using emojis.

[sgbaird]

Thanks for clarifying!

[sgbaird]

For now, going with the following schema, a slight mod to #15 (comment) in light of other comments. Putting the pipe at the end helps to draw the eye towards the text, which was hard to do without any symbols elsewhere.

• 🧪🔬🏗️💻 | A Self-Driving Laboratory Designed to Accelerate the Discovery of Adhesive Materials. Rooney, M. B.; MacLeod, B. P.; Oldford, R.; Thompson, Z. J.; White, K. L.; Tungjunyatham, J.; Stankiewicz, B. J.; Berlinguette, C. P. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039.D2DD00029F.
• 🧪🔬✖️💻 | Autonomous retrosynthesis of gold nanoparticles via spectral shape matching. Vaddi, Kiran; Huat Thart Chiang; and Lilo D. Pozzo. Digital Discovery 2022, 10.1039/D2DD00025C.

Subject to change and still open to feedback.

[sgbaird]

With the industry cloud lab examples, it's a bit tougher. These labs cater to a much wider set of capabilities; however, often manual sample transfer is at play. Also, automated modules might be used for some procedures while other procedures may require manual steps. There's also some ambiguity when it comes to the software since it's generally proprietary and would likely require human input at various stages in the loop (even if just clicking/confirming).

[sgbaird]

Follow-up: should there be some representation for simulations being run (e.g., in addition to experiments)?

[kiranvad]

yes, I think so. It is reasonable to expect that increasingly, SDLs will interact with some sort of simulations.