The Robotics Zone was a themed zone funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering. It involved scientists working with robotics in a variety of areas. Stuart designs tools for underwater robots, Melanie is a PhD student researching machine learning, Abbie works as Lead Engineer for the structure design on the first European Mars Rover, Tom is a PhD student who works for a robotics laboratory and Paul is an Engineering Supervisor for the Village Bakery.
Questions from students were often thoughtful and intelligent, with the engineers providing detailed and engaging answers on topics such as the future of robotics and the gender balance in engineering. The zone was quite quiet in ASK with a below average number of questions submitted by the students compared to the rest of the March zones. The live chats also demonstrated that students had a good idea of the work the engineers were doing.
