{"691401":{"#nid":"691401","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech to Lead National Cloud Laboratory for Advanced Manufacturing and Materials","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAdvancements in technology are key to a nation\u2019s ability to innovate and compete. Next-generation infrastructure, manufacturing, energy systems, electronics, and even medicine require new materials with capabilities that existing materials can\u2019t provide.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut discovering and vetting those materials can be slow, expensive, and hands-on, requiring researchers to prepare samples, run experiments on specialized equipment, and repeat the cycle through trial and error.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow, Georgia Tech aims to deliver a paradigm shift in materials and manufacturing research with a new Programmable Cloud Laboratory that will leverage artificial intelligence (AI), simulation, and autonomous experimentation to accelerate that process dramatically.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBuilt upon Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ampf.research.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EAdvanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility\u003C\/a\u003E (AMPF), a core facility of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/manufacturing.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Manufacturing Institute\u003C\/a\u003E (GTMI), the cloud lab will allow researchers across the country to direct work remotely, refine experiments based on results and AI recommendations, and tap into advanced manufacturing capabilities without spending weeks on-site. In effect, the cloud lab will bring the facility to the researcher.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBy making advanced manufacturing and AI-driven experimentation accessible from anywhere, we are accelerating the discovery of critical new materials and shaping the future of U.S. innovation,\u201d said Tim Lieuwen, executive vice president for Research. \u201cGeorgia Tech is proud to provide the world-class infrastructure to help meet this national need and strengthen our research partnerships.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe cloud lab is supported by $18.1 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is part of a broader effort to build \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/tip\/updates\/nsf-announces-400m-investment-new-national-network-ai\u0022\u003Ea national network of 20 AI-enabled cloud laboratories\u003C\/a\u003E. The labs are designed to work together, eventually allowing researchers to combine capabilities and workflows across the network. The new research ecosystem will connect advanced scientific infrastructure with expertise across the country.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cResearchers can ask a question, have work recommended by AI agents, have experiments carried out at the facility using robotics, and get the results back,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/stebner\u0022\u003EAaron Stebner\u003C\/a\u003E, GTMI associate director, Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair, James R. and Sarah R. Borders Faculty Fellow, and professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.mse.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Materials Science and Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (ME). \u201cThey can use AMPF resources to advance their own research without having to be experts in each piece of equipment or send students to AMPF for weeks at a time.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy lowering costs and barriers to conducting that research, Stebner said, the cloud lab will dramatically expand who can take advantage of AMPF\u2019s capabilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Self-Driving Research Lab\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAMPF is a mixed-use facility where both industry and academic partners can discover new materials and do manufacturing research. Today, the facility is approaching autonomous workflow capabilities across about 38 pieces of equipment. Through the cloud lab, the team aims to expand automated and autonomous workflows to more than 100 of AMPF\u2019s 160 pieces of equipment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe cloud lab will also bring together stages of materials development that have traditionally happened separately, allowing researchers to explore materials discovery, manufacturing, testing, and scale-up within the same research environment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.isye.gatech.edu\/users\/pascal-van-hentenryck\u0022\u003EPascal Van Hentenryck\u003C\/a\u003E, director of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ai4opt.org\/\u0022\u003ENSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization\u003C\/a\u003E and A. Russell Chandler III Chair in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.isye.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EH. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, said the automation extends beyond individual pieces of equipment. Robots can operate machines and move materials from one station to another, physically carrying out workflows requested by researchers from afar. AI will help determine which machines and robots are needed for each task and manage their movements across the facility.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVan Hentenryck compared the process to following a recipe.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen you cook, you have a recipe, and the recipe tells you what you have to do,\u201d Van Hentenryck said. \u201cYou don\u2019t need to understand exactly how the stove is working. You just need to know what you need to accomplish with it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAI agents will take those high-level \u201crecipes\u201d from researchers, translate them into detailed workflows, and coordinate experiments, simulations, and data flows across the facility.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe system will rely in part on digital twins \u2014 virtual models of the facility that can help plan, monitor, and improve experiments before and during execution. Van Hentenryck said the system is also designed to learn from each run, improving how machines are tuned and how future workflows are scheduled.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project will integrate Duke University\u2019s Automatic FLOW for Materials Discovery software platform, led by professor Stefano Curtarolo, to connect computational discovery with physical experimentation and help researchers more rapidly identify and evaluate promising new materials. Contextualize, led by founder and CEO Branden Kappes, will provide the data platform that seamlessly connects researchers, instruments, data, and IT systems across the distributed network. Tech AI will also contribute to the project as part of the broader research team.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe cloud lab will help bridge a longstanding gap between research and industrial adoption. Companies can be reluctant to interrupt working production lines to test unproven technologies, while startups and academic researchers often lack access to industrial-scale facilities where they can demonstrate that their ideas work. AMPF provides an environment where emerging technologies can be tested and de-risked without disrupting commercial production.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe cloud lab will give industry partners and manufacturers the ability to evaluate new ideas before they commit to large-scale deployment,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/kurfess\u0022\u003ETom Kurfess\u003C\/a\u003E, executive director of GTMI and Agustin A. Ramirez\/HUSCO International Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power Systems in ME. \u201cThis initiative will shorten development cycles and make it easier to bring promising technologies into production, enabling our partners and us to innovate at the speed of thought.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExpanding Access to Advanced Research\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project aims to serve more than 400 users from 150 academic, industry, and government institutions, with more than half participating remotely.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMaking these autonomous labs available to a very wide community is key to innovation,\u201d Van Hentenryck said. \u201cYou just give a lot of people the opportunity to try things out.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe cloud lab builds on a larger effort Georgia Tech has pursued through AMPF for years: integrating AI, automation, and advanced manufacturing to create a flexible research environment that can evolve with technology, expand access, and strengthen U.S. leadership in materials and manufacturing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Stebner, the cloud lab represents a critical next step in bringing that vision to life.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are six years into this effort, and we\u2019re already at a place I thought would take us 20 years to reach,\u201d Stebner said. \u201cThis cloud lab is going to take us to a level of technology, research, leadership, and access that I didn\u2019t know if we would reach by the end of my career.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe cloud lab will give researchers nationwide remote access to Georgia Tech\u2019s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility, pairing AI with autonomous experimentation to accelerate new materials discovery.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The cloud lab will give researchers nationwide remote access to Georgia Tech\u2019s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility, pairing AI with autonomous experimentation to accelerate new materials discovery."}],"uid":"36123","created_gmt":"2026-08-03 15:34:30","changed_gmt":"2026-08-05 15:18:28","author":"Catherine Barzler","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-08-03T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-08-03T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680754":{"id":"680754","type":"image","title":"AMPF-opening-2-2048x1144--1-.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EThe cloud laboratory will enable researchers nationwide to conduct AI-driven experiments using the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility\u0027s materials and manufacturing equipment. (Credit: Georgia AIM)\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1785771652","gmt_created":"2026-08-03 15:40:52","changed":"1785771652","gmt_changed":"2026-08-03 15:40:52","alt":" A robotic arm moves amongst AMPF facilities","file":{"fid":"265065","name":"AMPF-opening-2-2048x1144--1-.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/03\/AMPF-opening-2-2048x1144--1-_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/03\/AMPF-opening-2-2048x1144--1-_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":419033,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/08\/03\/AMPF-opening-2-2048x1144--1-_0.jpg?itok=4K6mOaSp"}}},"media_ids":["680754"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/news.research.gatech.edu\/2026\/07\/24\/georgia-tech-helps-advance-genesis-mission-national-effort-transform-scientific","title":"Georgia Tech Helps Advance Genesis Mission, a National Effort to Transform Scientific Discovery Through AI"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"364801","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"81901","name":"GTMI"},{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"39461","name":"Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics"},{"id":"39471","name":"Materials"},{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECatherine Barzler, Senior Research Writer\/Editor\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:catherine.barzler@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ecatherine.barzler@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["catherine.barzler@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}