TECHNOLOGY

the UK ’ s largest manufacturing sector – bigger than the automotive and aerospace sectors combined – but it is currently experiencing a great deal of pressure . Innovation is absolutely key to easing this pressure and that is why so much of our research aims to find radical new ways of performing familiar tasks .”

LIAT introduced its first agricultural robot to the farming world earlier this year . Thorvald is rather excitingly modelled on the Mars Rover , and looks more sci-fi than industrial with its square frame and iPod white chassis . It can be used to carry out items to workers in the fields – for example trays of plants . The robot is also designed to control weeds , using ultraviolet light to precisely kill off mildew as it runs over the crop rows at night .

Making the robot sound like something even more out of Blade Runner than the English

18 October 2017