Robotics centre to build aids for fire-fighters 01 September 2011

A new robotics centre, opening today (Thursday 1 September 2011) at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, is promising to boost research into animal-like robots, self-driving cars, robots for farms and robots to communicate with humans.

The Sheffield Centre for Robotics (SCentRo) will be open to the public tomorrow (Friday September), as this year's Towards Automatic Robotics Systems (TAROS) conference gets underway.

Professor Tony Prescott, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Psychology, who will be directing SCentRo, says that visitors can expect to find out more about such devices as the 'Shrewbot' – an animal-like robot that can seek out and identify objects with its artificial whiskers, using technology developed jointly by the Active Touch Laboratory, at the University of Sheffield, and Bristol Robotics Laboratory.

They will also see Guardians (robots for assisting fire-fighters), Grail (a robotic arm for domestic and catering services), a Tactile Helmet (super-sensing helmet, also designed for firefighters, in this case to help them find their way in smoke-filled buildings).

"We don't want robots to replace humans, but to perform complimentary functions by undertaking dirty or dangerous jobs, such as going into burning buildings, decommissioning nuclear power sites or tending crops," states Prescott.

"We hope that by uniting the different disciplines and expertise, from engineering through to psychology, SCentRo will help drive robotic technology forward in a way that will be useful to people," he adds.

"Robotics once was an exclusive engineering domain," continues Jacques Penders, head of Sheffield Hallam's Centre for Automation and Robotic Research (CARR). "However, present day robotics is an inclusive area of research and requires experts from very different fields to work together.

"SCentRo is founded by experts from the required disciplines and thus has the basics for developing robots for the future; robots that have to operate for and alongside human beings."

Brian Tinham

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