Robots which can glide sideways, ‘feel’ human touch and read emotion were all on show as Nottingham Trent University opened a new cutting-edge research centre.
The £11 million science facility, dedicated to teaching and research, is at the university’s Clifton Campus, home to the School of Science and Technology.
It contains two floors of state-of-the-art laboratories for bioscience, computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, robotics, sport science and engineering.
The facility will be used by undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as research scientists.
It aims to get students involved in advanced technical, team-working and industry-relevant project work, to make them as employable as possible with a range of real-life skills
The building brings science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects together to support collaboration between different areas and between students and researchers.
It includes a robot arena, for researching humanoid and other robots, and testing suites for exercise and food and nutrition.
The development comes after the university was awarded £5 million from the Higher Education Funding Council for England in recognition of the importance of teaching and learning in the relevant subjects.
Professor Mary O’Neill, Dean of the university’s School of Science and Technology, said: “This is an important development for Nottingham Trent University to integrate state-of-the-art facilities with project-based learning, so that we can continue to excite and challenge students and better prepare them for jobs in science and technology.”
