Duke University’s AI-Powered Microscope Speeds Up Imaging and Data Processing

A project at Duke University has demonstrated how commercial AI models could accelerate microscopic examination of 2D materials and analysis of the results.

The Duke Lab of Haozhe ‘Harry’ Wang has developed ATOMIC, or Autonomous Technology for Optical Microscopy & Intelligent Characterization, a platform that ‘can analyze materials as accurately as a trained graduate student in a fraction of the time’, according to Duke.

‘The system we’ve built doesn’t just follow instructions, it understands them’, Wang said. ‘ATOMIC can assess a sample, make decisions on its own and produce results as well as a human expert.’

The results, published in ACS Nano, may point to a new era of autonomous research, where AI systems work alongside humans to design experiments, run instruments and interpret data.