Speakers from the UK’s aerospace and nuclear sectors have been added to the agenda for the inaugural Robotics & Innovation Conference.
Set to take place at the Red Bull Technology Centre in Milton Keynes on 23-24 June 2021, the brand-new event will now see presentations delivered by Duncan Steel, chief technology officer at Sellafield Ltd, the government organisation responsible for the safe and secure operation and clean-up of the Sellafield nuclear site, and the UK Space Agency’s director of growth, Catherine Mealing-Jones, and space technology cluster manager, Dan Jones.
Sellafield and the UK Space Agency join a number of previously announced speakers from the defence and healthcare sectors, including UK defence secretary Ben Wallace; Professor Tony Young, national clinical lead for innovation, NHS England & NHS Improvement; and Professor Joe Harrison, chief executive, Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation.
Sellafield’s Steel will discuss robotics for hazardous environments, with a focus on the technology required for safe nuclear decommissioning. He’ll outline the challenges of designing robots that are robust, reliable, safe and able to withstand highly radioactive environments; explore the opportunities these robots present, and forecast what the future of robots for hazardous environments looks like.
Meanwhile, the UK Space Agency’s Mealing-Jones and Jones will examine the cross pollination of technologies for journeys to space, explaining how robots have helped the aerospace sector gain further knowledge about space. Together, they’ll discuss other sectors that have helped shape the robots used for space discovery and provide an overview future projects and the importance of these robots.
Commenting on the speaker acquisition for the event so far, John Thornton, editor of Robotics & Innovation Magazine, said: “The fact that we have speakers from sectors as diverse as aerospace, nuclear, healthcare and defence demonstrates the growing reach of robotics technology across society and reinforces how timely and important this conference is.”
The Robotics & Innovation Conference will also see the Robotics & Innovation Award up for grabs to entrants of the Pit Lane, an area that will give 10 of the best start-ups, students and up-and-coming engineers the chance to pitch their ideas, concepts and prototypes to influential companies and decision-making personnel who have a genuine interest in the projects being presented.
The best entry will win the Robotics & Innovation Award, which comes with a £5,000 cash prize and an opportunity to make connections with stakeholders that could turn a concept or prototype into reality.
Click here for details on how to enter the Pit Lane and to stand a chance of winning the first-ever Robotics & Innovation Award.
For partnership opportunities, contact Nairn Foster on 020 8037 1774 or nairn.foster@akabomedia.co.uk. For speaking and Pit Lane enquiries, contact Claudia Davidson on 020 8037 1777 or claudia.davidson@akabomedia.co.uk
