Robots and AI Could Speed Search for Quantum Materials

The Arkansas Materials Institute at the U of A will receive $3.4 million from the National Science Foundation to create a robot-controlled, AI-enhanced research infrastructure to accelerate research on new materials that could improve quantum devices. AURORA will build on the automated MonArk Quantum Foundry and extend its capabilities through the cloud, allowing researchers around the state and across the country to conduct experiments remotely. 

The subgrant is part of a larger four-year, $20 million project led by the University of Utah. AURORA stands for Autonomous Utah Resource for Open Research Automation. The work is funded by the NSF Programmable Cloud Laboratories program, which supports the development and operation of AI-powered, remotely accessible laboratories. 

"Our MonArk lab in Fayetteville will be the proving ground for AURORA," said Hugh Churchill, director of the Arkansas Materials Institute and AURORA's lead for industry and characterization. "New instruments and control software get built and debugged here first. Once they work reliably, they move into the production system in Utah, where researchers across the country can use them." 

A Faster Way 

Quantum computers will one day help researchers create new drugs, find materials for higher-performing batteries and improve cybersecurity. Standard computer bits are either 0 or 1. Quantum computers use qubits, which can be in a superposition of 0 and 1 until they are measured, somewhat like a spinning coin that has not yet landed. 

Professor Khoa Luu, leader of AURORA's AI team.

"To have a good qubit, you have to come up with the right material," said Khoa Luu, a U of A associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science who leads AURORA's AI team.

MonArk automates the fabrication of 2D materials, which are often no thicker than an atom. At that scale, materials can exhibit different properties, some of which may make them useful in quantum applications. AURORA will use AI to speed the process of identifying promising new quantum materials. 

"If the procedure in the past took months, now it will take hours or minutes," Luu said. 

Clouds and Cooperation 

MonArk uses robots to automate the fabrication process. By using the cloud, researchers can operate those robotic systems remotely. 

"Let's say someone in Little Rock or Fort Smith wants to run an experiment involving quantum materials, but they don't have the necessary infrastructure. With one click on the website, they can access the infrastructure," Luu said. 

By making advanced research infrastructure remotely accessible, the AURORA project aligns with the goals of the U.S. Department of Energy's Genesis Mission, which seeks to build a "national AI-for-science ecosystem." President Donald Trump launched the Genesis Mission last November with an executive order calling for "a dedicated, coordinated national effort to unleash a new age of AI‑accelerated innovation and discovery that can solve the most challenging problems of this century." 

The AURORA project combines expertise from the U of A and the University of Utah. Other collaborators include Johns Hopkins University and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

"When we work together, we get a bigger picture," Luu said. 

Projects like AURORA also give students opportunities to learn from researchers at other institutions and build connections that may lead to professional opportunities.