The Government says eight new hubs will give businesses and public services practical help to adopt robotics, from surgical assistants in hospitals to automated fruit-picking machines on farms.
A network of eight Robotics Adoption Hubs, backed by £40m, is being rolled out across the UK from Friday 9 October. The Government says the hubs will offer expert advice, tailored support and hands-on demonstrations to organisations that want to use robotics and autonomous technology. Among the technologies highlighted are robotic surgical assistants, which could help patients recover more quickly, and automated harvesting machines for farmers. The programme aims to make UK businesses early adopters of the technology, to boost productivity and growth.
What the hubs will do
According to the Government, each hub will give organisations impartial advice on the benefits, costs and practical requirements of adopting robotics. They will also connect them with technology suppliers, integrators and finance providers. The hubs will draw on specialist expertise already in their local areas and will focus on getting proven technology into practical use, helping organisations move from considering robotics to deploying it.
Funded partnerships will bring together universities, research institutes, local authorities and businesses to build and share knowledge. The Government says the technology can be applied in sectors including healthcare, farming, manufacturing, logistics and transport.
On healthcare, it says robotic surgical assistants can make operations less invasive, supporting quicker recovery and helping patients get home sooner. In agriculture, automated fruit-picking machines can cut the time a harvest takes and free workers to focus on other tasks on the farm.
Minister’s comments
Minister for AI Kanishka Narayan visited the HARVEST hub in Lincoln. “Quicker recovery for patients, more time for businesses to focus on the work that makes a real difference, and more food on our tables,” he said. “That’s the impact cutting-edge robotics technology can have up and down the country.”
He added: “If we can harness robotics in every sector of our economy, we can speed up how we reindustrialise the UK. It really is that simple, but too often businesses and bosses don’t know where to start. These new hubs will tackle that problem head on – putting specialist expertise, advice, and support at their fingertips.”
The economic case
The Government says some companies and entrepreneurs remain unsure how robotics could benefit them or how to adopt it effectively. It cites estimates that robotics and autonomous systems could add £150bn to the UK economy by 2035 if adoption is maximised. At current levels of adoption, the figure is just £6.4bn.
The eight hubs
- SHARP, the National Surgical Robotic Adoption Hub, which will accelerate the safe and effective adoption of surgical robotics.
- Greater Southwest Robotic Adoption Hub, supporting businesses across the region through advice, industry connections and demonstrations.
- HARVEST, based in Lincoln, which will tackle barriers to robotics in the agri-food sector, with testbeds covering arable farming, fruit, vegetables and food manufacturing.
- Milton Keynes Robotics Adoption Hub, a smart-city hub for robotics in public spaces, covering service robots, drones and self-driving vehicles.
- Hwb Llwybr Roboteg Cymru (HLRC), the Robotics Pathway Hub, which helps Welsh manufacturers adopt robotics through practical guidance, investment readiness and finance support.
- National Waste and Recycling Robotics Adoption Hub, helping waste and recycling sites test and adopt robots so they recover more materials and send less to landfill.
- Yorkshire Robotics Adoption Hub, which offers vendor-neutral support to Yorkshire manufacturers, including feasibility studies, business cases, live demonstrators and workforce training.
- South Wales Robotics Adoption Hub, offering independent advice, test-before-invest options, brokerage, skills and deployment support.
Convening body and skills funding
Alongside the hubs, a £1.7m body called AURA (Accelerating UK Robotics Adoption – National Robotics Adoption Hubs Convening Body) will unite the hubs and share knowledge between them. It will be delivered by The Welding Institute in partnership with Anglia Ruskin University.
A further £2.5m will support 12 projects developing robotics training, continuing professional development, apprenticeship pathways and workforce outreach. The Government says this is intended to address a shortage of skilled workers able to specify, procure, integrate, operate and maintain robotics. The projects include:
- A robotics training centre in Scotland for engineers and technicians
- Teesside University and DarbyTech’s hands-on training for industrial inspection
- A programme to help UK ports adopt robotics
- Training in the operation of uncrewed surface vessels
- A learning factory at FP McCann in Northern Ireland
- Executive-level training from Automate UK and Cranfield University
- A scheme in which students at 48 schools in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall will build robots with industry mentors
- A robotics technician apprenticeship study by the National Robotarium
- A programme taking robotics teaching to secondary schools, aligned with GCSE and A-level Computer Science
Existing facilities
The hubs will sit alongside existing robotics facilities, including the National Robotarium in Edinburgh, the nuclear robotics collaboration RAICo in Whitehaven, and the Catapult network, which includes the Manufacturing Technology Centre in the West Midlands.
Industry reaction
Bruce Adderley, director of advanced manufacturing at Innovate UK, said robotics had “an important role to play in improving productivity, strengthening public services and driving economic growth”. He said the hubs would provide “a vital bridge between cutting-edge technologies and the organisations that can benefit from them”.
Professor Simon Pearson MBE, founding director of LIAT and executive director of HARVEST, said the funding “takes us to the next level on our journey to advance agri-food through cutting-edge robotic solutions”. He said it would help businesses overcome technical, commercial, regulatory and workforce challenges.
