[mubhij]

I agree it would be a lot easier and plausible for the biomedical sciences and for material/organic/inorganic synthesis. Certainly the theory work will be done by scientists and the design of experiments. Hmmm I wonder for people developing equipment if we could write a whole bunch of plugins that allow a robot to construct different modules of equipment from raw materials and a built-in 3D printer. Again theory and design by the scientist but won't have to spend hours building and testing each component. There are very few scientists I have met or heard speak, and I am at a top 10 grad school, that are doing any method/technology development that are a huge leap from pre-existing science and technology.