At the Vertical Cloud Lab @ Brigham Young University (Provo, UT USA), we integrate the concepts of vertical automation, cloud experimentation, and frugal twins to make autonomous experimentation more accessible (see below). We are a new lab and welcome early collaborators and contributors.
Vertical labs maximize automation-friendly vertical space utilization—so equipment comes to the operator (e.g., via a vertical lift module) rather than the operator moving between instruments.
Fig: An "electrified" tray of a vertical lift module carries synthesis and characterization equipment to a storage position where experiments can run. When samples need to be transferred or maintenance needs to occur, the tray is brought back to the operator (e.g., robotic arm, human).
Cloud labs enable remote, decentralized access to experimental resources—democratizing hardware, computation, and domain expertise.
Fig: A remotely accessible color matching demo. Users consume "credits" in a quota-based system to asynchronously and remotely request experiments, viewable via a YouTube livestream. The demo can also be accessed programatically (i.e., via Python) where both programmatic and manual control are shared seamlessly. As of Aug 2025, 1000+ experiments have been run asynchronously by dozens of users. It has been used for local and international outreach, demos, coursework, and workshops.
Frugal twins are low-cost, modular physical twins (like digital twins, but for hardware) that complement high-cost systems, enabling low-risk prototyping, lower barriers to lab automation, and multi-fidelity optimization (DOI: 10.1039/D3DD00223C).
Fig: AMPERE-2 is a frugal twin for electrocatalyst discovery, enabling unit operations such as electrode cleaning, liquid handling, and electrodeposition via custom-built modules.
- Sterling Baird (
sgbaird) | Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University (BYU) [scholar] [linkedin]
- Autonomous alloy discovery
- Autonomous electrochemistry
- Advanced Bayesian optimization
(coming soon)
We welcome:
- BYU undergraduates and graduate students
- External collaborators and visiting students
- Open-source contributors
How to get involved:
- Email (see Sterling's profile)
- Include your interests, background, and links to relevant work (GitHub, CV)
- If applicable, reference specific org repos you'd like to contribute to