The Robotics, Evolution, and Art Lab (REAL) (https://real.itu.dk/) at the IT University of Copenhagen joins the BIG-MAP consortium with a background in the FET funded project EVOBLISS (http://evobliss-project.eu) where we pioneered the use of artificial intelligence and lab automation to advance research on microbial fuel cells and artificial chemical life and created a lab automation spin-out (http://flow-robotics.com). In BIG-MAP the REAL group will apply this experience to accelerate the discovery of new battery chemistries. More broadly, the REAL lab does research at the border between fiction and fact, to create new, feasible scenarios for the society of tomorrow. The lab has an interdisciplinary experimental practice. The lab conceptually explore what-if scenarios with artistic projects as well as conduct fundamental science and engineering to work towards realisation of these scenarios. Academically, the group is rooted in the arts, robotics, artificial life and evolutionary computation, but generally the research agenda is driven by opportunities arising both within the science, engineering, and art & design communities.
