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Recently, in an attempt to institute cost-saving measures, the Trump Administration announced a series of budget cuts to federal funding of scientific research. And unfortunately, nothing was spared from the cuts, including research on everything from HIV to vaccines and even cancer.
Although the long-term impact of these measures on the public is yet to be seen, one thing is certain: scientific researchers currently do not have access to the resources they need to make life-saving and world-changing discoveries.
In the scientific community, public institutions play a pivotal role in research and discovery. Many of the most innovative and important scientific discoveries of our time and the past have been made by public institutions like university labs. These are the exact people who are hit hardest by the budget cuts that have been recently instituted. While private companies, such as those in Big Pharma, will likely be able to survive these cuts (as they have other sources of funding to turn to), many researchers at public institutions may be forced to abandon their experiments.
Yet, one innovation that shows promise in equalizing scientific research is artificial intelligence. AI tools allow scientific researchers to expand their capabilities in ways they once only dreamed possible., enabling them to test new hypotheses and experiment on conditions that could not be easily replicated affordably or in a laboratory setting. Essentially, AI opens the doors for scientific researchers to explore entirely new horizons.
Unfortunately, the truth of artificial intelligence is that this technology is rarely as democratic as it has the potential to be. High-powered AI models require large amounts of computing power, and the hardware needed to support this level of computing is often reserved for private companies with large budgets. Especially in today’s ecosystem, where funding in public institutions is increasingly competitive and budget cuts are becoming increasingly frequent, those who need access to these artificial intelligence tools most often do not have them at their disposal.
How Project Robbie is democratizing scientific research
Enter Project Robbie: a revolutionary platform designed by Positron Networks in partnership with the Mass Open Cloud Alliance to automate AI and machine learning GPU workloads. This platform allows researchers to train models seamlessly, giving them the access they need to use artificial intelligence tools to supercharge their research.
After a successful beta test period that allowed them to get feedback from a variety of leading research institutions, private industry entities, and government agencies, Positron Networks recently launched Project Robbie to the public. During this time, the team at Positron found that the Project Robbie platform has the potential to expedite experiments several times over, allowing researchers to be much more efficient (and, more importantly, cost-effective).
In other words, the Positron Networks team likes to say that Project Robbie can help “supercharge” scientific research.
Free access to Project Robbie for researchers at public institutions
In response to the recent wave of budget cuts in public research funding, Positron Networks is proud to announce that it is making Project Robbie available to researchers, educators, and nonprofit research organizations free of cost for 90 days. The goal of this initiative is to remove some of the financial barriers that impede scientific discovery and give researchers the computational resources they need to get a head start on their research in a time marred by uncertainty.
“Advancing research and education requires access to reliable and scalable computing power,” said Sid Rao, CEO of Positron Networks. “With funding limitations making it difficult for researchers and students to train models and conduct large-scale experiments, Project Robbie is happy to offer 90 days of free access to help bridge the gap and accelerate innovation.”
Positron Networks is making this free access to Project Robbie available to any individual or organization with a .edu, .gov, or .org email address. To receive an access token, users can fill out a simple application form to get free access to the platform. The only stipulation is that the team at Positron Networks asks those users who receive access to share feedback and usage data with them so they can continue to improve the platform to best fit the needs of educational institutions and researchers like themselves.
Ultimately, the team at Positron Networks hopes that by giving researchers at public institutions access to these powerful computational tools, they can empower them to accelerate their research in ways that they might have otherwise been limited to do so by their lack of funding. In their eyes, science should be about who has the best idea — not who has the deepest pockets. Tools like those offered by Project Robbie will allow the field of scientific research to return to this more democratic playing field.
Also read:
Positron Networks: The Stealth Software Company Revolutionizing Scientific Research with AI
Benefits of Research for Medical Purpose
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