System for automating scientific and engineering experimentation

A method for automating experimentation comprising:

• automating experimentation processes;
• and
• automating data exchange between an automated experimentation platform (AEP) and one or more target applications;
• and
• enabling the data exchange to be generic.

A computer readable medium containing program instructions for automating experimentation comprising:

• automating experimentation processes;
• and
• automating data exchange between an automated experimentation platform (AEP) and one or more target applications;
• and
• enabling the data exchange to be generic.

A system for automating experimentation comprising:

• a generalized data exchange module (GEM) that (a) imports (i) experiment type definitions specific to an experimental environment or area of application, (ii) device setup and control definitions of all involved instruments, devices, and ICPs, (iii) analysis template definitions specific to individual subroutine complement and sequence requirements, and (iiii) reporting template definitions specific to individual user and area of application requirements;
• the definitions enabled to be independently developed according to public data structures without the need for programming, and (b) automates data exchanges between the automated experimentation platform (AEP) and various external software applications, instruments, devices, and ICPs and contains a public interface for allowing the data exchanges to be generic;
• and
• an automated experimentation platform (AEP) that contains (a) an experiment setup interface that dynamically configures to the defined experiment types and their involved instrument platforms and devices, (b) an analysis setup interface that dynamically configures to the defined complement and sequence of subroutines selected from an internal library, (c) a report setup interface that dynamically configures to the defined report data and results complement and sequence settings, (d) design of experiments (DOE) engines that generate statistically designed experiments correct to the defined experiment types and their involved instrument platforms and devices, and (e) numerical analysis, graphing, optimization, and reporting software engines that process data and results from external software applications, instruments, devices, and ICPs, execute data analysis processes according to the defined complement and sequence of analysis subroutines settings, and construct reports according to the defined report data and results complement and sequence settings.