Manchester University is developing state-of-the-art AI-powered robots

Manchester University is developing state-of-the-art AI-powered robots as part of an R&D programme to assist the UK in maintaining its leading position in automation technologies.

Set to carry out work too dangerous for humans, these new machines will be designed to act and think for themselves in hazardous places on Earth and in space.

An essential task for the nuclear business, according to Manchester University, is to increase robot autonomy so that the technology may be applied to provide safer, quicker, and less expensive decommissioning of old power plants and other radioactive installations.

The Robotics and AI Collaboration (RAICo) has been created in Cumbria as a joint research programme to support this task between the UK Atomic Energy Agency (UKAEA), Sellafield Ltd, Manchester University, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the National Nuclear Laboratory. The goal is to create advanced AI and robotic solutions and move these to sites across the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s UK estate. A pilot for the application and development of robotic systems in different sectors will also be provided by RAICo.