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Deputy First Minister announces new £5m funding package at the National Robotarium

21 May 2024/in Heriot-Watt University, industry, Industry residents, News, Scottish Government/by Louise Jack

The National Robotarium hosted the newly appointed Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Kate Forbes MSP, on Monday 20 May.

The Cabinet Secretary chose the UK’s centre for robotics and AI as the venue to announce a new £5 million funding package, created by the Scottish Government to boost the economy and attract international investment.

Targeted at start-up businesses, spinouts and female entrepreneurs, the scheme will help deliver end-to-end support as part of the government’s ongoing commitment to developing a world-class technology sector in Scotland.

As part of the visit, led by National Robotarium Business Development Manager, Lisa Farrell, and Chief Operating Officer, Steve Maclaren, alongside Heriot-Watt University’s Vice-Principal and Provost, Professor Steve McLaughlin, the Deputy First Minister met a number of start-up tech companies, who are advancing their business and technology through access to the centre’s high-spec laboratories, office space and robotics expertise.

“Facilities like the National Robotarium are proven to attract a range of talented and dynamic companies in their infancy. However, we need to ensure that we have a supportive infrastructure that allows them to remain in Scotland while they grow their business and scale-up production.”

Lisa Farrell, The National Robotarium

Companies benefitting from the National Robotarium’s business acceleration support include Frontier Robotics, BioLiberty, Crover, Touchlab Ltd., and newest residents, Danu Robotics, all of whom spoke to the Economy Secretary about how crucial centres like the National Robotarium are for growing Scotland’s start-up business community and retaining its tech talent and skills base.

a group of people gathered in a workshop or lab environment.

Agritech start-up Crover shared how they’ve developed their technology since joining the National Robotarium

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said:

“Innovation is at the very heart of our economy. We have the talent, the skills and the facilities to make Scotland one of Europe’s fastest-growing start-up economies: an economy that is strong, successful and dynamic.

“This package of measures, which builds on the multi-million investment the Scottish Government is already making into our start-up business community, forms the next step in providing one of the most comprehensive government-backed support networks in Europe.”

Business Development Manager, Lisa Farrell said:

“It was an honour to host the Deputy First Minister and showcase some of the start-ups that are getting a head-start through our business incubation and acceleration support.

“Facilities like the National Robotarium are proven to attract a range of talented and dynamic companies in their infancy. However, we need to ensure that we have a supportive infrastructure that allows them to remain in Scotland while they grow their business and scale-up production.

“I welcome the announcement that the Scottish Government are committed to delivering additional resource that will foster real economic growth through its start-up community and grow its roster of female entrepreneurs.”

Also in attendance were Mark Logan, Chief Entrepreneurial Advisor to the Scottish Government, and Ana Stewart, a tech entrepreneur and investment partner, who produced a Pathways report last year that highlighted recommendations for improving under-representation of women in entrepreneurship.

The image shows a man engaging in a conversation with three other individuals in a modern office setting.

New resident company Danu Robotics spoke to the Economy Secretary about their automated waste sorting technology

The National Robotarium appoints first Head of Robotics

29 August 2023/in Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, industry, News, Research, Working with Industry/by Louise Jack

Dr Ingo Keller has been appointed as the first Head of Robotics at the National Robotarium, the UK’s centre for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

A software, AI and robotics engineer with over 20 years of experience in science and industry, Ingo will lead the facility’s growing team of robotics engineers as they test and develop new technologies and systems to address real-world challenges. Current projects include robotics for sectors including agriculture, construction, manufacturing, aerospace and fisheries.

Ingo has in-depth, hands-on experience with a multitude of robotic systems, including all phases of software development, life-cycle management and DevOps tooling. He has co-founded a number of start-up technology companies in software architecture and database management systems, developing a keen understanding of the potential of applied emerging technologies for addressing industry challenges.

Prior to his new role, he was Chief Technology Officer at Xihelm, a London-based robotic harvesting solutions company, where he worked while completing a PhD in Data Augmentation for Human-Robot Interaction at Heriot-Watt University, where the National Robotarium is based.

On his new appointment, Ingo said: “I’m delighted to join the National Robotarium team at this exciting stage of its development and lead on the creation of robotics, AI and engineering systems that can truly transform people’s lives and work. My goal is to get more robots out of the lab and into the wild, and being able to talk directly to industry leaders about their challenges means we can develop safe, practical, and effective robotic technologies that can be seamlessly integrated into society.

“I’m also passionate about sharing the knowledge and expertise of our talented team to build robotics skills in different sectors, ensuring people are equipped with the tools they need to operate and manage robotics and AI, and promoting the positive benefits of these technologies to all.”

Stewart Miller, Chief Executive Officer, said: “The appointment of Ingo as our first Head of Robotics is an important and exciting milestone for the National Robotarium. He is passionate about applying his extensive expertise to new and interdisciplinary problem spaces and will be a great ambassador, working with experts in all fields of science and industry to advance state-of-the-art robotics systems.”

AWE explores robotics opportunities with the National Robotarium

27 July 2022/in Research/by Louise Jack

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Senior representatives from the National Robotarium, the UK’s leading centre for robotics and AI, hosted strategic partner AWE for a day of activities and talks centred on sharing expertise and opportunities for collaboration.

AWE is one of Heriot-Watt University’s longest-established academic partnerships, carrying out STEM research for mutual benefit.

During the visit CEO of the National Robotarium, Stewart Miller, gave a tour of the new multimillion-pound facility, due to open at Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh campus in the autumn when it will become home to the largest and most advance applied research facility for robotics and AI in the UK.

The tour included a sneak preview of its specialist Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS), Human and Robot Interaction (HRI), and High-Precision Manufacturing labs, which will be used as shared test centres for the development of robotic solutions to real-world industry challenges.

Following the tour, National Robotarium academic co-lead, Professor Yvan Petillot, and Academic Lead in Precision Laser Applications, Dr Richard Carter, led a workshop on how the two organisations could share knowledge and expertise and together advance future-thinking research and teaching in the use of robotics and AI for safeguarding and security. The National Robotarium has already forged partnerships to develop ground-breaking robotics for health and social care, hospitality, agriculture, energy, manufacturing, and the offshore sector.

Attendees also discussed how the National Robotarium’s CPD and talent programmes could support AWE students and graduates to develop practical robotics and AI skills that could be utilised within different sectors and industry roles.

Dr Richard Carter said: “Heriot-Watt and AWE have worked together for many years now, forming a strategic alliance over a number of successful projects in statistics, modelling and optical metrology.

“This recent visit to the National Robotarium has provided an opportunity to explore how we can expand this relationship into the field of robotics and AI, and to showcase our new facility as a hub for creating innovative, cutting-edge research and technology with different industry and government partners.”

AWE Head of Outreach, Professor Norman Godfrey, said: “The National Robotarium at Heriot-Watt University is a fantastic new UK facility. Its formation provides a unique opportunity for AWE to engage at the earliest stage with the technologies, processes and policies it is developing for multiple industrial partners.”

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Student-led project to build AI butler reaches next round of Amazon SimBot Challenge

14 July 2022/in Heriot-Watt University, Research/by Louise Jack

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A team of student researchers from the National Robotarium, supported by Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh, have reached the next round of the Amazon Alexa Prize SimBot Challenge, a global AI competition that tasks university teams with developing a bot that can best respond to people’s commands and demands.

Team EMMA (Embodied MultiModal Agent), led by PhD students Amit, Hementhage, Malvina, and Georgios, successfully completed the Public Benchmark Challenge in April. The challenge involved talking a robot model through a series of household tasks using predefined dialogue datasets – created and provided by Amazon – to assess its ability to follow instructions, learn, and predict changes in its 3D virtual environment.

EMMA, the only non-US team to be shortlisted for the competition, placed sixth on the leader board, allowing them to continue into the ‘live interactions’ development phase, beginning in July 2022. During this phase, the teams will compete to develop a bot that best responds to real Alexa customers who will rate, review and feedback in real-time.

The outcome of the development phase will be revealed during the finals, scheduled for early 2023.

“They have been working hard to develop an embodied agent that is capable of answering questions or solving tasks through natural language interactions, similar to how humans talk to and learn from each other, and the next phase of the competition will see the team develop this technology even further.”

Prof. Verena Rieser, Professor of Conversational AI at the National Robotarium, and team advisor said: “The Alexa Prize SimBot Challenge is focused on helping advance the next generation of virtual assistants that will assist humans in completing real-world tasks.

“The technology and research being developed by the teams involved is really exciting as it could ultimately mean that robots are able to help and support people in their homes and other real-life environments.”

Amit Parekh, the team’s student leader, said: “I’m incredibly surprised and happy with how much we’ve managed to achieve over just a few months and really excited to see what we’re able to achieve over the coming stages! Everyone’s gone above and beyond and we’ve been able to create something we can all be proud of as a result.”

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Tag Archive for: Heriot-Watt

Deputy First Minister announces new £5m funding package at the National Robotarium

The National Robotarium appoints first Head of Robotics

AWE explores robotics opportunities with the National Robotarium

Student-led project to build AI butler reaches next round of Amazon SimBot Challenge

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