Robot with AI brain learns to evolve synthetic protocells

An AI robotic system that enables synthetic protocells to evolve could help unravel how complex life formed on Earth. The fully automated system, which make use of machine learning, could aid understanding of other complex chemical systems too. Oil-in-water droplets are often used as protocell models because, while chemically simple, they can exhibit complex and cell-like behaviours, such as movement and division. However, in order to work out how specific droplet properties – including viscosity, density and surface tension – result in different behaviours, droplet formulations must be varied. The problem is that the permutations are vast, even for droplets with just four ingredients.