Business engagement

We pride ourselves on close collaboration with industry, and staff from the Centre are involved in various robotics and engineering institutions and committees.

Grants from industry comprise support for EPSRC IAA projects (Sellafield Ltd, Forth Engineering, TPLC, Braendler Engineering, Proctor and Gamble) and KTP Projects (Nuvia, Forth Engineering, Braendler Engineering, Proctor and Gamble), iCASE awards (e.g. BAE Systems), fully funded PhD projects (e.g. Honda HRI Europe and HRI Japan).

Discover our work with CRADLE, with being together the industrial experience that Jacobs has in applied Robotics and Autonomous Systems and the research expertise at The University of Manchester.

We are the lead academic partner in the CINDe PhD Centre, which is supported by NNL and Sellafield Ltd. We are also a strategic partner with BAE Systems, including in robotics projects.

Recent examples of our staff contributing to new standards in the field include the IEEE p7009 standard for Fail-Safe Design of Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous Systems (Fisher), the BSI AMT / 10 Robotics Committee (Dixon, Fisher), and IEEE P7001 Transparency for Autonomous Systems (Dennis).

We are also involved in the Virtual Engineering Centre.

Key industry applications

One of the key strengths of robotics research at the Centre is the breadth and variety of autonomous systems applications, and the direct engagement and collaboration with numerous industry partners and stakeholders. Our impact activities are organised around five key areas.

Agritech

The work here focuses on the deployment of novel sensors in agricultural environments. Specific technologies include agritech, swarm robotics with links through to image analysis.
Autonomous vehicles

This includes applications in the field of aerial robotics, space robotics, human-robot interaction and control with autonomous and assisted driving. This includes projects as part of the RAIN/HOME projects and funding from Honda.
Cobots and industry 4.0

Numerous projects currently focus on collaborative robots (cobots) for flexible manufacturing (e.g. new CS-BAE iCASE, KTP P&G), joint action and control for manipulation (HONDA DeCIFER, US THRIVE++), and telerobotics and variable autonomy systems.
Healthcare and education

Current projects at Manchester include rehabilitation robotics platforms and control (5+ PhD students), robot companions for social and health care (MoveCare) and robot tutors for education (eLADDA). Projects on privacy and trust (SPRITE+) also consider application of autonomous systems to healthcare.
Nuclear and extreme environments

Manchester has a world leading reputation in the field of nuclear robotics via the leadership of the RAIN hub and RNE programme grant (Lennox). Staff also participate in other extreme environment hubs, such as NCNR, ORCA and Fairspace. Other key application areas in this field include offshore robotics (HOME, MIMRee) and subterranean mines (Prometheus).