Researchers awarded £900,000 to develop AI robots for safer chemistry experiments

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Posted on Sunday 10 May 2026

Researchers from the University of York are part of a partnership that has been awarded more than £900,000 to transform how high-risk chemistry experiments are conducted.

The project, Human-AI Teaming for Chemistry (HATCH), will tackle the challenge of automating complex, hazardous experiments that current AI and robotics struggle to handle safely. It's led by researchers from the Institute for Safe Autonomy, Department of Chemistry and School of Physics, Engineering and Technology.

While chemistry is central to tackling some of the world's biggest challenges, from developing new medicines to creating sustainable materials, the slow, labour-intensive nature of laboratory work remains a significant bottleneck. AI and automation have the potential to speed this up, but often struggle when faced with the unpredictable, multi-step processes involved in the early stages of experiments.

The HATCH project aims to bridge this gap by developing AI systems that can work alongside humans, carrying out delicate laboratory tasks.

Researchers at the University of York are partnering with teams from the University of Sheffield and the University of Liverpool, with funding provided by the AIchemy Frontier Fund.

Over two years the project aims to:

Capture chemists' knowledge and skill by deconstructing complex workflows into physical actions, creating a library of instructions that robots can follow.
Introduce an AI "coordinator" that manages the lab in real-time, allocating tasks to either the human or the robot, based on efficiency and safety.
Test whether humans and robots can successfully work together to carry out complex chemistry in a real laboratory setting.

The project is led at the University of York by Dr Jihong Zhu and Professor Ian Fairlamb. It grew out of an initial seed-funding round from the Institute for Safe Autonomy (ISA), which prioritises cross-cutting research that bridges the gap between its three research areas, Communications, Design and Verification and Assurance. Two postdoctoral research associates will be based at York, with a further lead researcher and postdoctoral researcher at both the University of Sheffield and the University of Liverpool.

Ian Fairlamb, Professor of Chemistry, said: "The aim of this project is to change the way we do synthetic chemistry. Some of the most important chemistry, the kind that could lead to new medicines or sustainable materials, is also the most technically challenging and time-consuming to carry out. HATCH is about making that work faster, safer and more accessible."

Dr Jihong Zhu, who leads the AI and robotics side of the project, added: “We are now at the stage where this technology is not only necessary but for the first time technologically feasible. We have the tools to bring humans and AI together in the lab in a way that is genuinely collaborative rather than just automated."