At the Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU), a Platform for Accelerated Electrochemical Energy Storage Research (PLACES/R) was established by the research group led by tenure-track professor Stein, who could win major research funding with this concept and the initial results. It is the goal of PLACES/R to speed up most battery research processes through automation. For this, robots must first learn the smallest individual steps that researchers take, including the handling of battery components, electrodes or electrolytes, and complete batteries. This allows hundreds of electrochemical experiments to be performed per day. The platform can formulate new types of electrolytes, synthesize electrodes, and transfer knowledge at their in-house small-scale production facilities. This approach is now being used to create the first European laboratory network. Implementation, evaluation, and planning will be carried out by several research groups. This fully digitalised laboratory for accelerated material development is unique worldwide and represents a beacon project marking Baden-Württemberg as a research location.
