UK museums use AI to put 70 million specimens online

Researchers are using robots and AI to build a vast online resource of natural history specimens from collections across the UK. The Distributed System of Scientific Collections, known as DiSSCo UK, is led by the Natural History Museum and will eventually let people view around 70 million animals, plants, fossils and rocks from their phones and computers.

The project aims to digitise material that has often remained in drawers and cupboards, including specimens collected centuries ago. Each item must be photographed and matched with scientific labels that are frequently handwritten, but automated scanning and AI analysis are expected to reduce a task once estimated at hundreds of years to a decade. Examples range from a blind tripod fish to a horse tooth recovered by Charles Darwin around 1833 from northeast Argentina.

The opening phase will focus on smaller specimens such as beetles, butterflies, moths, flies, pressed flowers and ferns, beginning in Wales and Scotland. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and National Museums Scotland hold 13 million specimens between them, alongside 50 smaller Scottish collections. Scientists say the combined database will help track insect decline, monitor pest populations, refine models of climate-driven species loss and support research into minerals needed for green technology.