SPECIALIZED VOICE ASSISTANT FOR SCIENTIFIC LABS

While doing fast-paced and time-sensitive experiments in the lab, researchers need to document unpredictable changes on the spot. However, in cases where sterility plays a crucial role, the fear of contamination of the samples is ever-present. Furthermore, digitizing the notes is still quite a hassle. So, how do you document your experiments in the most efficient way possible? Ahmed Khalil came up with Ascenscia, a voice assistant for scientific labs that rings in a new era for researchers.

During his time in the lab, Ahmed felt frustrated with writing down his notes from his research. “Researchers still write down everything on paper,” explains Ahmed. “That means that when you do a PhD, you end up with a bunch of notebooks (‘lab journals’) in which you documented all your experimental data. These lab journals will be stored somewhere once you finish your PhD, but no one will look at them again. Which is a loss of data as it’s often not digitized. That was the trigger for me to ask the question of why documentation still happens on paper. I discovered that electronic lab notebooks were a thing, but they still require you to write it all down and transfer it at the end of the day. By capturing data immediately by voice and ensuring it ends up in the database right away, we take away a lot of the manual work so scientists can focus on the research itself.”

Aiming for success

The tool is more than just a smart dictaphone. It’s even more than a ‘Siri for science’. Ahmed: “It’s an interactive tool because it provides back-and-forth communication. Aside from taking notes, it can guide scientists throughout their workflow, perform calculations, set times, and locate samples. All can be done through hands-free commands.” Intending to change the way we do science, Ahmed joined the imec.istart.nl accelerator program. “It’s a very comprehensive program,” he says. “Of course, the investment is great, but the dedicated coach who follows up every week and challenges you, helped us along the way. Even as alumni, we’re not left to our own devices because they want us to succeed. We learned where we are in our journey, what to focus on, and how to work on our next steps.”

Impactful innovations

The vision for those next steps is clear: revolutionizing scientific lab documentation. Ahmed: “When we think of Ascenscia in ten years, we envision it as a commonly used tool across multiple research disciplines. It would be the scientific lab voice assistant fully embedded into lab systems. I like to compare it to J.A.R.V.I.S. from Iron Man. Tony Stark can ask the system to access data and provide him with information. Ascenscia will eventually be able to do that as well. So, when you need information from a previous experiment, you can ask Ascenscia to access the data and share it with you. And because it learns from the data you provide, it’ll understand what kind of experiments you’re doing in the long run, and in the future, it could even suggest new ideas or experiments. That would enable scientists to work more efficiently, to innovate faster, and to produce high-quality data. Researchers and scientists can then use that data to collaborate more easily. Essentially, we’d like to make an Iron Man of every scientist."