Autonomous Systems and Robotics

The centre's activities originated in 1987 when Salford University was chosen as the site of the United Kingdom's National Advanced Robotics Research Centre. Since then Robotics has formed a major strategic direction within Engineering in the University and Salford, where Researchers have been at the forefront of strategic national developments initiated by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and international developments within the E.U. The Centre hosted two government sponsored EPSRC networks in Robotics and Food Automation.

The centre is part of the School of Computing, Science and Engineering at the University of Salford. The centre houses a multidisciplinary group lead by Prof Samia Nefti-Meziani with interests in autonomous systems and robotics and their constituent technologies. The group has strong national and international links with both industry and other research institutes. The core group of researchers in the laboratory includes over a dozen graduate students and three senior academic research members. This centre holds the academic (national and international) Master programmes in Robotics and Automation and Embedded systems and the projects are primarily associated with Aerospace industries in France and England.