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Tetsuwan Scientific is making robotic AI scientists that can run experiments on their own | TechCrunch

Dec 22, 2024 - techcrunch.com
Cristian Ponce and Théo Schäfer founded Tetsuwan Scientific after meeting at a 2023 Halloween party organized by Entrepreneur First. Ponce, with a background in bioengineering from Cal Tech, and Schäfer, who studied underwater autonomous robots at MIT and worked at NASA, bonded over the challenges of manual lab work. Their company aims to address the inefficiencies in genetic engineering by modifying affordable lab robots. The breakthrough came when they realized that large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4 could interpret scientific data and offer solutions but lacked the physical capability to execute these suggestions. This led them to develop robotic AI scientists that can autonomously evaluate and modify experiments, addressing the gap in translating scientific intent into robotic action.

Tetsuwan Scientific's robots, which resemble glass cubes, are designed to understand and manipulate physical properties like liquid viscosity and crystallization. The company is currently working with La Jolla labs to optimize RNA therapeutic drug dosages and has raised $2.7 million in a pre-seed funding round led by 2048 Ventures. Ponce envisions these AI scientists automating the entire scientific method, potentially leading to exponential growth in scientific discovery. Tetsuwan Scientific is part of a broader movement exploring AI's role in scientific research, alongside organizations like FutureHouse and Potato.

Key takeaways:

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  • Cristian Ponce and Théo Schäfer founded Tetsuwan Scientific to address the challenges of automating lab work, particularly in genetic engineering.
  • The company aims to modify lower-cost lab robots to perform tasks traditionally done by lab technicians, using advancements in AI and large language models.
  • Tetsuwan Scientific's robots are designed to evaluate scientific results and make modifications autonomously, with an alpha customer already using them for RNA therapeutic drug research.
  • The company raised $2.7 million in a pre-seed funding round, with the goal of developing independent AI scientists that can automate the entire scientific method.
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