Collaboration accelerates AI-driven discovery of advanced battery materials.
A ground-breaking partnership between the University of British Columbia’s Hein Lab, Seoul National University (SNU), and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) is pushing the boundaries of battery energy storage research. Through developing self-driving laboratories, the teams aim to revolutionize material discoveries for high-performance battery electrolyte formulations. This partnership marks a major milestone in accelerating research for clean energy solutions and beyond.
Self-driving labs can drastically reduce the time and cost of developing novel molecules and materials. Self-driving labs that combine artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation to plan, execute, and analyze experiments, have the potential to bring new materials to markets within as little as one year at a projected cost of around $1 million — which traditionally takes decades and tens of millions of dollars.
Funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea and generous donations from Mettler Toledo, the collaboration brings together Hein Lab’s expertise in automated organic and process chemistry with innovative energy storage technology at SNU’s Machine Intelligence and Computational Chemistry Lab, and robotic and vision control at KIST’s Center for Humanoid Research. The initiative is part of a larger global effort led by the Acceleration Consortium, which received $200 million from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund in 2023 to develop a global network of self-driving labs and transform materials discovery and deployment.
Hein Lab team meets Prof. Jaeyune Ryu, Prof. Jang Wook Choi, Prof. Yousung Jung and their team.
As a major milestone of the partnership, Dr. Sydney Cao, Hein Lab’s Lab Manager, and Leo Egger, an Undergraduate Research Assistant, recently visited SNU to support the setup of their autonomous research platform. The duo played a key role in installing essential infrastructure and providing operational training that will sustain SNU’s self-driving lab operation and ensure long-term collaboration success.
“Establishing a self-driving lab requires precision, coordination, and a deep understanding of automated reaction instruments,” says Dr. Sydney Cao, a Chemistry Ph.D. with over seven years of R&D experience in material characterization and laboratory management. “We supported SNU in configuring and validating a safe and reliable automated platform. This wouldn’t have been possible without the EasyMax 102 system donated by Mettler Toledo – a key component of our platform that allows precise reaction parameter control and high-quality data recording.”
The trip also marked a significant step toward enabling technology transfer between the institutions. “A key advantage of our self-driving lab approach is that the resulting synthetic protocols can be executable by reaction automation platforms outside our lab. Providing initial training to our collaborators was also a core focus of the trip, and it lays the groundwork for ‘teleporting’ chemical synthesis without geographical boundaries as our collaboration grows,” explains Leo, whose first research project was designing technology transfer protocols—a comprehensive set of guidelines to support reproducing a given automated synthetic workflow.
Hein Lab members Dr. Sydney Cao (L), Leo Egger (M), and Jiyoon Min (R) set up EasyMax 102 Advanced Thermostat Systems.
“Our partnership represents a critical step toward building a global ecosystem for autonomous research,” said Dr. Jason Hein, Professor at UBC’s Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, and Principal Investigator of the Acceleration Consortium’s UBC branch. “Together, we’re not only accelerating discovery but training the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists who will define the future of R&D.”