"Building new lamps" is why the engineers and technicians developing new scientific instruments and experimental processes deserve more credit than they get.
Yes- after many years of being a theory guy I actually did a 180 and started building my own scientific instruments, because the acquisition cost of a research microscope is so high. This allows me to experiment quickly with new ML algorithms, and I've greatly increased my respect for the people who toil to make the hardware for next-generation discovery science.