'Booming' artificial intelligence and robotics sector in line for £17m boost

Universities will get £17m to help them develop pioneering robotics and AI as part of the plans to support the'booming' sector, which is behind smartphone voice and touch recognition technology and digital assistants such as the iPhone's Siri. AI also forms the bedrock of video games and music and film recommendations services, as well as improving online customer services, and is used in fraud detection tools used by banks. Among the projects supported with the money from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a move by the University of Manchester to develop autonomous robots for hazardous environments such as nuclear facilities. Researchers at Imperial College London will use some of the funds to try and make advances in the field of surgical micro-robotics. A major review of AI will also be carried out by Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, and BenevolentTech chief executive Jerome Pesenti.