The University is to play a major role in helping to boost the UK’s ability to develop and exploit the vast potential of robotics and autonomous systems.
Southampton is one of the founding partners of a robotics network run by the Engineering and Physical Research Council. The EPSRC UK-RAS Network was unveiled on 24 June at the Science Museum in London.
This body brings together the country’s key academic capabilities in robotics innovation under national coordination for the first time. It will encourage academic and industry collaborations to accelerate the development and adoption of robotics and autonomous systems.
As the UK’s leading university for unmanned autonomous systems (UAS) research and education, Southampton will be active in the Network across many areas. In particular, aerial vehicles through the DECODE (Decision Environment for COmplex DEsign) project to design, build and fly state-of-the-art unmanned air vehicles with full autonomous control systems and robotics for Earth Science as part of the ASTRA initiative (@SotonASTRA), which develops cutting-edge low-cost robotic systems for observing the atmosphere.
Dr Stephen Prior, Reader in Unmanned Air Vehicles at the University, says:
“Our involvement in the EPSRC UK-RAS Network reflects our global reputation for robotics and autonomous systems research and development. We have the capabilities and resources to help the UK economy address the demands of this challenging technology across all sectors of industry, from transport and healthcare to manufacturing and unmanned systems.”
You can read the full press release here.