Major grants to develop robotics and sustainable energy technologies

Ways of storing energy from sustainable sources and improving surgical robotic technology are projects receiving funds from the UK Government. The projects received a combined total of £18.3 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and were announced this week by David Willets, Minister for Universities and Science. Imperial College London is one of 20 universities across the UK to receive funds for research that has been identified by the Government as future drivers of UK growth. Professor Nigel Brandon, Director of Imperial's Energy Futures Lab, has been awarded a £14.3 million project to develop new technologies for storing energy captured from low carbon sources, such as wind farms and nuclear reactors, so that it can be used more effectively by the UK's electricity grid. He will lead a group of ten universities in the project. Professor Guang-Zhong Yang, co-director of the College's Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery, will take the helm of a £4 million project that will establish new engineering facilities for developing miniaturised robots for surgery and new types of targeted therapies for patients. Sir Keith O'Nions, Rector & President of Imperial College London, says: "Imperial is a great driver of innovation and entrepreneurship and these two projects exemplify some of the technologies that could successfully power the UK's economy well into the future.