PCL-Test Bed: Computation-Optimized Automated Soft materials Technology Programmable Cloud Laboratory Node (COAST PCL Node)

Award ID: 2607521

PCL-Test Bed: Computation-Optimized Automated Soft materials Technology Programmable Cloud Laboratory Node (COAST PCL Node) Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are poised to transform scientific discovery, accelerate advanced manufacturing, and strengthen U.S. competitiveness. The University of California, Santa Barbara will establish COAST PCL, a national AI-driven materials innovation infrastructure that combines autonomous robotics, advanced scientific instrumentation, and shared data networks to accelerate the discovery and synthesis of advanced polymeric materials used in medicine, aerospace, computing, energy, and consumer products. By enabling researchers, startups, national laboratories, and industry to access a shared autonomous research ecosystem from anywhere, at any time, COAST PCL will accelerate materials discovery, manufacturing, and technology translation across the United States. As a node in the NSF national network of autonomous laboratories, this node will help in the modernization of Americas half-trillion-dollar chemical industry. It will help build a workforce skilled in AI and advanced materials design that will define the next decade and more of American ingenuity. The establishment of COAST PCL as an open-access national infrastructure for autonomous materials discovery and manufacturing will significantly expand U.S. research and innovation capabilities in advanced polymeric and biomaterials. By integrating high-throughput synthesis, real-time characterization, autonomous robotics, and AI-guided experiment planning, COAST PCL will help create a connected national research ecosystem capable of rapidly discovering and manufacturing materials with programmable properties, composition, and functionality. Reconfigurable robotic systems will enable autonomous parallel synthesis, adaptive reaction optimization, and scalable manufacturing through modular workflows capable of rapidly exploring complex materials design spaces across diverse scientific and industrial challenges. A cutting-edge digital ecosystem will be designed to collect, analyze, and share experimental data in real time, leading to highly efficient closed-loop designbuildtest workflows while also establishing interoperable standards across the NSF Programmable Cloud Laboratory network. These advances will establish foundational technologies in autonomous robotics and AI-driven experimentation, accelerating materials innovation and strengthening U.S. leadership across critical manufacturing and technology sectors. By bridging physical experimentation with AI-driven digital orchestration, COAST PCL will enable access to advanced research capabilities for academic, industrial, startup, and national laboratory users across the United States. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Alex Vadati