What is touted as the UK’s first global centre of excellence in agri-robots research is set to launch after the project secured £6.4 million in grant funding.
Based at the University of Lincoln’s working farm site, Lincoln Agri-Robotics will bring together world-leading expertise in robotics, artificial intelligence and agriculture.
The University of Lincoln is already spearheading the development of next-gen robots for agri-food production which will help streamline and maximise processes throughout the entire food industry, from farm to fork.
This new funding, from the UK Government’s Expanding Excellence in England (E3) Fund through Research England, will enable its researchers to scale up their work tackling pressing issues facing the global food chain.
Lincoln Agri-Robotics will expand two of the University of Lincoln’s specialist research groups – the Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT) and the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (LCAS) – bringing together the groups’ scientists into one specialist organisation.
The new centre will fuse robotics and artificial intelligence expertise with that from agriculture and other disciplines such as food manufacturing, engineering, life sciences and social sciences.
“It is widely agreed that robotics will transform the food and farming industries in the coming years, as producers adapt to meet significantly increased global demand, but there is still so much research and development to be done,” said Professor Andrew Hunter, Lincoln’s Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation.
“The creation of Lincoln Agri-Robotics is therefore extremely timely and positions Lincolnshire, and the UK, at the leading edge of research innovations in this truly global industry.
“RAAI technologies will facilitate a step change in agricultural productivity while reducing environmental impact, and this new centre of excellence will be at the forefront of that change.”
Research at Lincoln Agri-Robotics will focus on autonomous agri-robots that can efficiently tend, harvest and quality-control high-value crops with reduced human intervention, improving agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability, and addressing the demands of a growing population.
