Robotics and autonomous intelligent systems are areas of science in which the UK has world class expertise, but to reap the full benefits for the economy and society we need to get better at applying the technology to industry.
UK research to develop smart machines that think for themselves will receive a £16 million boost today thanks to a major partnership between the government and industry. Speaking at the official opening of the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at the University of the West of England, Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, will announce today [Thursday 10 May] funding for 22 exciting university-based research projects in the UK. Led by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and an eight-strong group of partners, the investment has over £4 million in support from industry. This will include access to specialist laboratories, equipment, expertise and advice on commercialisation and industrialisation. The partners are BAE Systems , Schlumberger , National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), Sellafield Ltd , Network Rail , SCISYS , DSTL and the UK Space Agency. The two University of Bristol projects to be funded are: Building vehicles with legs will look at how visual information is used to adapt to changing terrain and environment by studying how humans behave via head-mounted cameras. This could speed up the development of vision control for land-based vehicles with wheels or legs.
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