The Rapid Prototyping Laboratory (RPL) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is providing hands-on training to undergraduate and graduate students to prepare them for future careers in laboratory science. The RPL is part of an Argonne-wide initiative that incorporates robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to speed up the rate of scientific discovery while freeing up scientists’ hands and brains to work on tasks that only humans can accomplish.
The interns at RPL work on microtasks like designing and printing custom attachments for robotic arms or testing cameras that help robots see and avoid obstacles in a lab. They also learn practical aspects of being a working researcher, such as polishing their CVs, turning in weekly reports on time, and posting their portfolios online. The student researchers come from a variety of backgrounds, from biology to computer science to esports, and they are encouraged to follow their passion.
“Having this group of people with a very diverse set of experiences and education allows us to work with each other and accomplish things more quickly,” said Rory Butler, a computer science Ph.D. candidate from UChicago and intern at the program.
“And it’s also a whole lot of fun because if there’s no set way of doing things, then you’re free to explore and try just wild and crazy ideas and see what sticks.”
Although the students’ projects are paving the way for larger discoveries with autonomous discovery, they do have Eureka moments of their own. The investment Argonne makes in interns pays off, as several interns have grown from beginners to specialists, and many young researchers said Argonne’s friendly and open culture and its world-class facilities had them considering long-term careers at Argonne.
Applications for the Robotics & Instrumentation Group internship program are now open, so if you’re a US citizen/resident and are enrolled full-time at an accredited institution, and you’d like to try to get a place, then head on over to the internship website here.
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