How will the new nuclear robotics and AI cluster benefit Oxfordshire investors?
Oxfordshire-based UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is to lead the creation of a nuclear robotics and artificial intelligence cluster for the UK.
The announcement was made at the end of last month (November) by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The £4.9 million initiative will run across Cumbria and Oxfordshire, both regions with a long history of development in the nuclear sector. The cluster is expected to create 200 business opportunities,10 spin-out companies and generate 200 jobs.
Oxfordshire has a strong track record of business creation built on the nuclear sector. Ten years after UKAEA was formed at Culham in 1954, it was generating jobs and bringing in business opportunities as soon as it was able to branch out into commercial and non-nuclear activities. These really began to grow in the 1970s, and by 1985, UKAEA’s headquarters at Harwell was generating £50 million per year from over 1,200 contracts, benefiting sectors such as space, petroleum and safety testing.
UKAEA has focused on fusion energy research at Culham and it hosted the JET (Joint European Torus) facility from 1973 to the end of 2023, setting world records for fusion performance while developing facilities that have been used by organisation worldwide for research and development in the nuclear industry and which have helped make advances in robotics and autonomous systems, including the Materials Research Facility (MRF), and Remote Applications in Challenging Environments facility (RACE), along with other skills and research centres.
UKAEA has inspired developments in robotics, driven by its work in enabling the safe decommissioning of nuclear plants. It works closely with the Oxford Robotics Institute at the University of Oxford, a world leader in large-scale mobile autonomy. ORI has specialist groups working on mobile robotics, soft robotics, dynamic robotic systems, cognitive robotics, and an applied AI lab, working with industry across a number of sectors.
Having these centres of expertise in Oxfordshire has helped to attract talent, start-ups and global investors to Oxfordshire, such as Canadian international space mission partner MDA and Intuitive Surgical, creator of the robotic-assisted da Vinci surgical system.
Companies to have benefitted from the expertise that has been developed and held within Oxfordshire include robotics and computer imaging specialists Createc, Inovo Robotics, which aims to make robots accessible to all, and agricultural robotics specialists Muddy Machines.
Dr Kirsty Hewitson, UKEA’s Director of RAICo (Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Collaboration) is clear that the creation of the nuclear RAI cluster means that the organisation will continue to work with universities and partners to drive research and development.
The award of £4.9 million to the nuclear RAI cluster covers four years, but the real economic and social impact is expected to continue for much longer.
Image provided by Culham Science Centre