§ Mr. David Watkinsasked the Secretary of State for Industry what support Her Majesty's Government are giving to manufacturing industry to encourage robot control and production systems.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerI will reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
§ Mr. David Watkinsasked the Secretary of State for Industry what financial support Her Majesty's Government are giving to the British Robots Association and to other research institutions to encourage the development of robot control systems in manufacturing industry.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Department of Industry provided a grant of £15,000 to help launch the British Robot Association. As part of the Government's efforts to encourage the development and application of industrial128W robots in Britain, financial aid has also been allocated to the National Engineering Laboratory and to several research bodies.
The National Engineering Laboratory has received approximately £350,000 for robot development work under the automated small batch production project. The Steel Castings Research and Trade Association (SCRATA) has been allocated grant aid of £305,000 for a project involving the application of robotics in foundry work. The Production Engineering Research Association (PERA) is receiving assistance totalling £443,000 to operate a robot advisory service. In addition in 1980 the Science Research Council launched a £2.5m industrial robotics programme to encourage academic/industrial collaboration on robot development projects.
Implicit in all these programmes is encouragement of robot control systems.