Robotics · 10 October 2026 · 3 min read
Britain puts £40 million into eight robotics adoption hubs
The hubs, announced on 9 October, are there to help hospitals, farms and factories try equipment that already exists. They are not a new robot.
The UK government said on 9 October that it is backing eight Robotics Adoption Hubs with £40 million. Innovate UK will deliver them. A further £1.7 million goes to a national convening body, and £2.5 million to twelve projects for training, apprenticeships and outreach. The BBC reported the same £40 million figure and the same purpose: advice and support for businesses and public services that want to use robots.
The named work is practical and local. A surgical hub in Newcastle is meant to help health services adopt robotic-assisted surgery. A hub in Lincoln, called HARVEST, covers farming and food. Milton Keynes is aimed at service robots, drones and driverless vehicles in public space. Others cover the South West, Yorkshire manufacturing, waste and recycling, and two paths into Welsh industry. What they offer is advice, a chance to try a machine, and an introduction to suppliers. The government said patients could recover faster and harvests could take less time. Those are the reasons for the programme, not results it has published.