This programme provides funding to support organisations to understand, trial and integrate robotics to improve productivity, safety and growth. The support is provided through regional robotics adoption hubs, national coordination and skills development projects.
The programme supports organisations to adopt robotics. It helps them move from exploring how robotics could work to using it in practice.
The core part of the programme will be the delivery of Robotics Adoption Hubs. Hubs will be located within a UK region and may focus on one or more industries.
Robotics included in this programme
For this programme, robotics includes:
- drones operating on land, sea and air
- autonomous plant and service robots
- industrial robots or automated machinery that use sensors, actuators and control software
It does not include systems that are only software-based.
What robotics adoption hubs will do
The robotics adoption hubs will:
- advise organisations on robotics benefits, costs and integration needs
- help identify suitable uses and connect organisations with vendors, integrators and finance providers
- showcase robotics technologies and capabilities in hub locations and real working environments
- ensure the use of robotics will be supported beyond the end of the programme
- work with the central convening body to share learning, develop national adoption resources, and route enquiries to the most suitable hub
- focus on adoption instead of early-stage or fundamental research
- use existing facilities where possible instead of building new or significantly refurbishing infrastructure
- purchase limited robotic demonstration equipment for showcasing, with primary use of existing hardware
Alongside the hubs, the programme will fund:
- a central convening body
- collaborative research and development projects