Kingston University has been selected to lead the UK's first National Waste and Recycling Robotics Adoption Hub (NORAH), part of a £40 million government scheme funded by Innovate UK. The £3.6 million NORAH project, led by Professor Vasilis Argyriou, will help waste and recycling sites test and adopt robotics for complex materials such as textiles and soft-material waste. The hub aims to support more than 150 organisations and deliver operational deployments by 2030, accelerating automation in a sector where fewer than five per cent of facilities have adopted automation.
The UK's National Composites Centre (NCC) will lead a dedicated one-to-one business advisory service within the new £9.8 million Greater South West Robotics Adoption Hub, helping regional businesses explore and adopt robotics and automation. The Hub is led by Bristol Robotics Laboratory through the University of Bristol alongside UWE Bristol and NCC, bringing together 23 industry, academic, and local-government partners, with £7.2 million from Innovate UK and £2.6 million from project partners. It is one of eight Robotics Adoption Hubs selected nationally and is expected to be fully operational by January 2027.
Fieldwork Robotics has partnered with Dynium to advance agricultural robotics capabilities. The collaboration enables Fieldwork's harvesting robots to leverage Dynium's autonomous vehicle platforms featuring high-torque e-hubs for enhanced power, fleet management, and terrain navigation across polytunnel environments. The partnership builds on Fieldwork's Innovate UK-funded BerryBot Project and opens pathways for future joint innovation projects.