BBC Radio Leeds challenge: build a robot in five days

As part of BBC's Intelligent Machines week, BBC Radio Leeds challenged engineers in our National Facility for Innovative Robotic Systems to build a robot from scratch in just five days.

Dr Jordan Boyle, lecturer in Engineering Systems, accepted the challenge and immediately got to work creating a basic robot with two types of sensors.

Each day, Dr Boyle created different parts to the robot starting off by hooking up motors, batteries, sensors and circuit boards to build the robot's "nervous system". Watch how he got on throughout the week and discover the finished robot in action:

 
Dr Jordan Boyle explains how he built a robot in just five days.

Further information

National Facility for Innovative Robotic Systems
The £4.3 million Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) National Facility for Innovative Robotic Systems opened in the University of Leeds in October 2014.

The research builds on the University’s existing strengths in robotics for surgical applications, patient rehabilitation, prosthetics and exploration.

The facility is being funded as a resource not only for researchers but also for industry, and forging partnerships with companies interested in developing state-of-the-art robotics is a key objective.