9th December 2021
Robotiz3d was recently successful in securing a SMART grant award from Innovate UK. The SMART grant, kick started in October, provides Robotiz3d with substantial funding for two years to help accelerate development of its automated pothole detection and maintenance system.
Our entry for the competition focused on micro crack repair – the unique selling point of our solution. This is another crucial step in promoting proactive road maintenance, prioritising prevention over cure, and stopping minor defects from developing into potholes.
Another exciting aspect of the award is the opportunity for Robotiz3d to collaborate with the Computer Science department of the University of Liverpool, giving us access to some of the best knowledge and expertise in robotics and data science. Access to these expert skills will help to enhance our resources and improve development.
Lisa Layzell, CEO at Robotiz3d, said: “We’re so delighted to receive this boost to our development. Funding is a critical part of any innovation centric business. This SMART award is highly welcomed and enables us to focus management attention primarily on product development and customer engagement tasks, to achieve planned development milestones.”
The award was given due to the disruptive and relevant nature of our developments to solve a pressing and growing problem affecting many people in the UK. One assessor commented: “This project is worthy of support as it addresses an especially important issue. The problem addressed is large and this project could only address a fraction of the market need, however the project could set a standard for the sector.”
Robotiz3d is also one of the successful projects selected for the RIMA (Robotics Inspection and Maintenance Activities) bootcamp 2021.
Dr Paolo Paoletti, CTO at Robotiz3d continued: “Winning two of Europe’s most competitive competitions is massive recognition of the team’s competitiveness and the level of innovation our project represents. They also boost Robotiz3d’s credibility and reflect the genuine demand for solving such a major infrastructure challenge on a global basis.”