Robotics

The Real Robotics Lab is based at the University of Leeds and headed up by Professor Rob Richardson, a world-renowned expert in robotics and current Chair of ESPRC UK-Robotics & Autonomous Systems Network. Professor Richardson leads a core team of 12 specialists in unique robotic design with access to world-class, state-of-the-art facilities.

The REAL Robotics research group is comprised of experts in mechanical design, 3D modelling, rapid manufacturing, UGV design, UGV autonomous navigation, UAV payload design, computer vision, object detection, robotics manipulator design, prototyping, 3D printing, and UAV autonomous navigation.

REAL Robotics research projects are specialised within the area of infrastructure and exploration robotics. In recent years, we have been involved in the Self-Repairing Cities project, making autonomous robots that detect problems in modern-day city environments. For example, a drone would land on a roof and repair leaking tiles by 3D printing directly onto them.

We’ve taken robots all over the world, such as high up in the Himalayas to help researchers map glacial lakes and into the Great Pyramid of Egypt to explore undiscovered chambers. In 2020, we competed in an international robotics competition, MBZIRC, known as the “Robotics Olympics”.

Most recently, we have been developing in-pipe swarm robotics to solve challenging problems in waste and potable water network management. We aim to revolutionise buried pipe infrastructure management with the development of micro-robots designed to work in underground pipe networks and dangerous sites.

Find out more at the Real Robotics website.

Case Study - Pipebots: Pervasive sensing for buried pipes

The novel array sensing technology lies at the heart of the pipebots proposal. Still, the overall vision depends fundamentally on the ability to efficiently deliver sensors to known locations anywhere within the pipe network. Navigation, intelligence, and communications are essential, but they are meaningless without a suitable physical embodiment. REAL Robotics lab is dedicated to solving the substantial challenges associated with the design and manufacture of robotic swarm hardware capable of long-term survival and reliable locomotion in buried pipes. Many factors make this difficult, and well beyond the capabilities of any current swarm robotic platforms:

1. A pipe network presents a challenging environment for robot locomotion (variable diameters, presence of various fluids, vertical sections, presence of complex features like valves);
2. The environment is hostile (containing water, sewerage, or gas, possibly at high pressures and/or flow rates), requiring high levels of environmental resistance;
3. The small diameter of some pipes, combined with the need to avoid obstructing flow, requires extreme miniaturisation.

Moreover, solutions to these challenges must be integrated, along with the necessary sensing, communication, navigation, and energy-harvesting hardware. The assembled team is uniquely placed to address these challenges, with a clear vision for the future of infrastructure robotics, relevant expertise in robotics, advanced manufacturing, and robot locomotion mechanisms.

Research team

If you are interested in collaborating with us or joining our research team, please get in touch with our team members:

• Professor Robert Richardson
• Dr George Jackson-Mills