Friday, 1st July saw the culmination of the first UK Robotics week at the International Robotics Showcase event held at IET London: Savoy Place.


The event was opened by Professor Philip Nelson, Chief Executive of ESPRC and Professor Jeremy Watson, who is President elect of IET.   Professor Watson will deliver his IET President's Address on 6 October 2016 on the subject of "The Interdisciplinary jigsaw - developing the Engineering Future" at the IET's Future of Engineering Festival 


Delegates heard from an amazing line up of incredible speakers from UK, Europe, Korea, Singapore, Japan, USA to name a few, covering, in the morning session,  diverse subjects such as autonomous vehicles, unmanned systems in extreme environments, robotics and space exploration missions, future of automation in manufacturing and what the next 25 years in medical robots may bring us.


The afternoon saw speakers covering next generation exoskeletons, biorobotics, the robotics challenge of Korea and emerging robotic nations.  A special session on collaboration and funding opportunities brought the presentations to an end and then delegates prepared for the awards ceremony for UK Robotics Week and drinks reception.


Throughout the day, delegates were able to wander round the exhibitions and talk with the exhibitors which included Leeds University with their amazing robot arm, Dyson with their 360 Eye, atombots and a metamorphic walking robot.


You can check out some of the images, videos, updates and tweets online.


Throughout the conference and exhibition we did some filming, covering topics such as:

Are robots going to take our jobs?

What is the next big thing for robotics?

How can we diversify disciplines?  


There were some interesting viewpoints from a variety of exhibitors and presenters and we have these for you to view on IET.tv