Partners

UKAEA hosts the largest nuclear Robotics and AI group in the UK. The group designs, builds, and operates robotics for extreme industrial environments and leads on Robotics and AI for internationally significant programmes such as ITER and the European Spallation Source.

In nuclear decommissioning, UKAEA leads LongOps and the Robotics and AI Collaboration (RAICo).

The University of Cumbria was founded in 2007 to create opportunity and access in a Higher Education cold-spot. The university has contributed to many national nuclear programmes including the National College for Nuclear and the Project Academy with Sellafield, providing knowledge transfer and applied research.

The £12m Institute of Engineering was founded in 2023 in partnership with BAE Systems, and includes funded research programmes in engineering applications of AI and digital twins.

The University of Manchester has a strong, established research presence in Cumbria via RAICo and its Dalton Cumbria Facility. Approximately 50 academic staff work across nuclear Robotics and AI programmes, including the previously successful Robotics and AI in Nuclear (RAIN) Hub.

Their research has been recognised as world-leading by UK government and has impact at nuclear facilities across the UK.

The University of Oxford’s Oxford Robotics Institute (ORI) delivers autonomous robotics research programmes, and enables ambitious field deployments. In the nuclear sector, this includes the first mobile robot survey of JET’s exterior; the first autonomous quadruped inspections at Sellafield; membership of the Sellafield’s Centre of Expertise in RAI; and a project with RAICo delivering novel robotic inspection tools at Trawsfynydd.

The group’s activities have generated four startups, around 900 published papers, and over £50m of research funding.