EPSRC: Balancing the impact of city infrastructure engineering on natural systems using robots

Start date: 14 January 2016
End date: 3 January 2021
Funder: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Value: £4,217,380
Partners and collaborators: Balfour Beatty Group Limited, Construction, Institute of ASCE, DNV GL (UK), Elgin, Energy and Utilities Alliance, Leeds City Council, National Grid, Scoutek Ltd, Severn Trent Water Ltd, Synthotech, UK Society for Trenchless Technology, Yorkshire Water
Principal investigator: Professor P Purnell
Co-investigators: Dr N Somjit, Professor AG Cohn, Professor M Basheer, Professor CDF Rogers, Dr G Graham, Professor A Brown, Professor AA Dehghani-Sanij, Professor M Miodownik, Professor DN Chapman, Professor R Richardson, Professor I Robertson, Dr R Fuentes, Professor N Cohen, Professor N Merat, Dr SD Prior, Professor N Metje, Dr J Kim, Dr M Dallimer, Professor GA Dymski

Photograph of a city skyline

Description

To tackle the Grand Challenge “Zero disruption from Streetworks in UK Cities by 2050” this project relies on an interdisciplinary team to conduct pioneering scientific research (and research methods) into: autonomous systems for minimally invasive infrastructure sensing, diagnosis and repair; development of advanced robots for deployment in complex live city environments; and the socio-technical intricacy of the robot - human - natural systems interfaces. The project will develop pioneering robot designs, technical implementations and socio-economic impact cases linked to specific application requirements, starting with three case-study systems.