The National Robotarium, a partnership between Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh, is part of the Data-Driven Innovation initiative and is supported by £21 million from the UK Government and £1.4 million from the Scottish Government through the £1.3 billion Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal - a 15 year investment programme jointly funded by both governments and regional partners
The National Robotarium’s state-of-the-art facility, built by Robertson Construction, will be home to world-class technology and laboratories for the advancement and practical application of robotics and AI research.
Located at Heriot-Watt’s Edinburgh campus, the National Robotarium has been designed with sustainability and energy efficiency at its heart. Its intelligent façade will provide solar heat and recycle warm air, and the building will include an ecological zone to integrate sustainable urban drainage systems.
As well as providing a unique space for the two partner universities to develop and apply the latest Robotics and AI sciencethe facility will work with collaborators from industry to test and apply solutions to industry-led sectoral challenges. By taking an agile and collaborative approach, the National Robotarium intends to accelerate innovation and deliver valuable solutions to businesses and society.
Key areas of research include Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS), Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), and High-Precision Manufacturing. Sectors working with the National Robotarium so far include offshore energy, healthcare, assisted living and social care, agritech and construction.
During the construction of the National Robotarium, Robertson utilised ongoing research to conduct 3D scanning of the site using robotic solutions. Quadroped ‘SPOT’ robot dogs were fitted with Lidar scanners, which moved through the site, mapping out areas and feeding back real-time data. For humans, navigating such potentially hazardous environments, while performing a manual Lidar scan could take a few days whereas SPOT completed the task within an hour.
Stewart Miller, National Robotarium Chief Executive, said: “The National Robotarium is an investment for the future that aims to benefit the economy and society using Robotics, AI, engineering and technology directly to achieve that.
Scotland has a long and rich heritage in AI and robotics, which will be further strengthened by the opening of the ground-breaking, purpose-built facility. The building will be the most advanced of its type in the UK and will provide extensive world-class facilities for partnerships to develop solutions to real-world problems.”
Yvan Petillot (Professor of Robotics and Computer Vision at Heriot-Watt University) said: “The National Robotarium will form a centre of excellence for fundamental research and knowledge exchange to address real-world challenges and industry needs.
The cutting-edge resources provided by the new facility combined with the expertise of our researchers will put us in a highly competitive position to elevate the UK onto the global stage in robotics and AI technologies. Our existing and new students will have the opportunity to apply their knowledge by working on real-world problems through internships and industry-led group projects facilitated by the National Robotarium, accelerating their skills as they actively shape the future of the field.”
Community Benefits
As well as employing local workforce within the construction of the facility, Robertsons have undertaken a number of community benefits to benefit the area and student body, including:
1 student intership
7 work placements
2 graduate placements
Heriot Watt also invited primary schools across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and Scottish Borders to suggest a name for a robot. Made by Boston Dynamics, the robot model has previously gone viral having been programmed to perform dance moves to popular songs.
— Heriot-Watt University (@HeriotWattUni) June 8, 2021
Robertson were also able to directly respond to a request on the portal by Edinburgh Agroecology Co-operative (EAC) - which is developing community growing projects at a former farming site in North West Edinburgh - for wooden pallets and barrels. These will be turned into planters at their community farm at Lauriston.
Robertson drop off pallets to Edinburgh Agroecology
They aim to address some of the issues around access to local, affordable fresh produce, environmental degradation and lack of opportunities for people in cities to gain experience in food production resulting in a greater understanding of the wider food system.
Lisa Houston, Director of EAC said: “There’s a lot of people who live near here, living in flats who don’t have access to spaces to grow stuff, so wouldn’t have the confidence to take on an allotment. We’re trying to create pathways for people to get access to green space.”
“Being able to access these donations from Robertsons through the ESESCommunities.org portal is invaluable. It’s a massive project and it’s a very ambitious project – and it can be hard finding everything we need”
“Donations of materials and volunteer help will help us to make it all happen”
David Cairns, Managing Director of Robertson Construction Central East said “During the construction of the National Robotarium, we aspired to deliver much more than a high quality facility.
Using the ESES Communities portal allows us to identify organisations in the local area requiring community benefit support.
We were delighted to be able to offer resources from the Robotarium site, and it was a we were only too happy to hire a van and send some of our site staff down with the pallets and barrels to see first-hand the ambitious work that Edinburgh Agroecology are doing"
In 2021, the team at Heriot-Watt University launched a public outreach programme to inspire and educate young people about robotics and AI. This included a special schools competition to name the National Robotarium’s quodroped ‘SPOT’ robot dogs.
Over 1000 pupils from 39 schools took part in the competition with Aberlady Primary School’s P6/7 class eventually crowned the winners. They submitted the acronym M.A.R.T.I.N, which stands for Mechanical. Artificial. Remote. Technological. Intelligent. Ninja.
The Edinburgh Futures Institute is part of the Data Driven Innovation (DDI) strand of the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City Region Deal.
From food production and climate change, to exploring Space and genetically-tailored healthcare, the DDI initiative is a cluster of innovation hubs that bring academic disciplines together to delve into some of the world’s most pressing challenges – using data to innovate. To find out more, visit the DDI website (https://ddi.ac.uk/), or click the entries below to view further information about each of the hubs:
