Date/Time
Date(s) - 16/09/2025
5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Location
ICE
Categories
Robots we can trust: unlocking the UK’s potential in smart machines
One Great George Street, Institution of Civil Engineers, London – 16th September 2025
Overview
The rapid advancement of robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) is redefining the global technological landscape. As robotics become increasingly integrated into daily life and industrial processes, the UK faces a pivotal opportunity to lead in their responsible development and deployment. This has been recognised in the recently published UK government Smart Machines Strategy 2035. This 10-year plan builds on the UK’s strengths in research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, laying out strategic goals and actionable steps to unlock the full potential of smart machines by 2035.
Following on from our successful event in 2024, the Hazards Forum has once again partnered with the National Committee on RAS Regulations, Standards and Ethics to explore how the UK can capitalise on its world-leading research base to drive the effective and ethical integration of RAS across society. You will hear about:
- The current state of RAS research in the UK and key areas of global competitiveness
- Pathways for turning academic excellence into scalable, real-world impact
- The importance of public trust, governance, and inclusive design in fostering adoption
- Strategies for ensuring that deployment aligns with environmental and social sustainability goals
- The importance of effective cross-sector collaboration, cross-acceptance as well as common ontologies and approaches.
Speakers
Vaibhav Puri OBE
Director of Sector Strategy and Transformation, Rail Safety and Standards Board
Talk title: RAS and the importance of effective compliance pathways, cross-sector collaboration and acceptance
Vaibhav is the Director of Sector Strategy and Transformation at RSSB. He is also the former Deputy Director of Standards and Head of Regulatory Policy. Over the last two decades, Vaibhav has been an influential voice in the evolution of UK, EU and international railway legislation, including supporting the Department for Transport and the sector in transitioning seamlessly to a post-EU exit legal and standards landscape. Vaibhav is recognised in the UK and internationally as an expert in regulation, governance, and standards.
On behalf of the UK, Vaibhav chairs the COTIF Committee of Technical Experts which sets international law for rail transport focussed on connecting Europe, Africa and Asia. He has also led several European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) task forces on safety culture and use of data and systems, and he was also part of ERA’s Economic Steering Group. In his current role, Vaibhav is the RSSB lead in the implementation of the Rail Reform and also leads RSSB’s Futures Lab which is helping the industry prepare for technological developments linked to Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS). Vaibhav is also one of the co-chairs of the National RAS Regulation, Standards and Ethics Committee. In 2025, Vaibhav received the honour of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his outstanding contribution to railway safety and standards in His Majesty The King’s Birthday Honours.
Dr Isidro Durazo Cardenas
Senior Lecturer in Life Cycle Engineering, Cranfield University
Talk title: Autonomous railways infrastructure inspection and repair vehicles
Dr Isidro Durazo Cardenas is an expert in Life-cycle engineering. At Cranfield university he leads its railways infrastructure research portfolio, leading a team of research professionals that designs, constructs and tests autonomous inspection vehicle prototypes, from the low TRLs all the way to high TRL 6 and 7, including some very exciting industrial demonstrations. He has secured funding from Innovate UK, EPSRC, and industrial partners such as Network Rail and Akzo Nobel.
Other R&D interests include the incipient detection of damage in highly added value materials, components and structures for Through-life sustainment, intelligent remote condition monitoring, robotics, and technology management. Isidro enjoys working with Industrial partners to solve “real” problems.
In addition to his research, he is involved in teaching and supervision of postgraduate students. He is the course director for the Through-life System Sustainment MSc/L7 apprenticeship; and leads taught modules in systems’ health management, and Operational Availability and Risk. He has supervised students from the MOD, Babcock, Network Rail, Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and many more leading organisations.
Recent doctoral supervision projects topics include responsive obstacle avoidance navigation for autonomous maintenance machines, railway’s maintenance digitalisation & analytics, modelling and simulation of autonomous machines, and advanced navigation for railway robotics.
He was recently appointed as assistant director of education for apprenticeships at Cranfield University, bringing a wealth of expertise in developing and running L7 apprenticeship courses.
Dr Durazo-Cardenas joined Cranfield University following his PhD studies at Cranfield’s Precision Engineering Centre, where he successfully developed ultra-precision porous bearings. He previously studied for a BSc in Mechanical Engineering at the Instituto Tecnologico de Hermosillo in Mexico, and MSc in Manufacture with an Advanced Automation and Design option at Cranfield University. Prior to his academic career, he worked for 5 years in industry as a manufacturing and product engineer for Sony Electronics and Solar Turbines. He is a fellow of the higher education academy (FHEA) and a member of the permanent way institute (MPWI), and the British Institute of non-Destructive Testing (MBINDT).
Dr Steve Davis
Senior Research Fellow in Robotics at the University of Birmingham and Operational Director of The Birmingham Institute for Robotics
Dr Steve Davis has more than 25 years’ experience in the field of robotics. He is currently Senior Research Fellow in Robotics at the University of Birmingham and Operational Director of The Birmingham Institute for Robotics.
Steve’s research covers many areas of robotics with specific focus on ‘soft’ robotics, manufacturing, lightweight advanced actuators and artificial muscles, human robot interaction, dexterous robot hands, end effectors and grasping, biomimetics and biologically inspired robot systems, and robotics in healthcare and rehabilitation. He has received funding from UKRI, EPSRC, Innovate UK and the EU.
Steve publishes extensively on ‘soft’ robotics, biomimetics, grippers and humanoid technologies as well as automation. He also has extensive experience of enterprise activity having worked with companies large and small on automation related projects.
Dr Ketao Zhang
Senior Lecturer in Robotics and Director of the Robotic Systems Research Group at Queen Mary University of London
Talk title: Robotics and AI: Enabling Safe Remote Operations in Hazardous Environments
Ketao Zhang is currently a Senior Lecturer in Robotics and Director of the Robotic Systems Research Group. He is also the Industry Engagement Lead of the Centre for Intelligent Transport at the School of Engineering and Materials Science (SEMS), Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).
He has expertise and a strong track record in the areas of aerial robotics, bio-inspired robotics and robot kinematics and dynamics. He is the author of over 100 articles that have been published in prestigious journals and conferences, including Nature, IEEE and ASME Transactions. He is the lead author of groundbreaking work on an additive manufacturing approach using autonomous aerial robots, which offers future possibilities for building and repairing structures in unbounded, high and hard-to-access locations, featuring the front cover of Nature in Sept 2022.
Dr Zhang is recognised as a leading researcher in his field, as is evidenced by a host of national/international guest speaker invitations as well as by formal honours received. In 2021, he received the Howard Medal presented by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) for his exceptional work on the three-dimensional printing of polymer structures using drones. He is currently an Associate Editor of IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, Mechanism and Machine Theory and ASME Journal of Mechanical Design.
