Robots we can trust: unlocking the UK's potential in smart machines

Samia Nefti-Meziani OBE

Professor Samia Nefti-Meziani is director of the Birmingham Robotics Institute and director of the newly £34.6M EPSRC national hub for a robotics-enabled sustainable future for manufacturing. She is an internationally leading expert with 25 years of experience and a well-established track record in robotics, intelligent automation and AI. Samia recently received an Order of the British Empire for services to robotics which was awarded in the Queen's Jubilee birthday honours list. She also featured as the 2020’s top 30 world’s women in robotics you need to know about by Silicon Valley Robohub. She has developed practical cross-sectorial robotics technologies through numerous commercial and research projects, funded by the EU, EPSRC, RE and Innovate UK and has pioneered the use of robotics and autonomous systems in many sectors including food, nuclear, transport, aerospace and healthcare. Professor Nefti-Meziani is a co-founder of the National Robotics Network, which includes industry end-users and academic members, she is serving as a government advisory board member for the Robotics Growth Partnership. She is currently the academic lead of the UK cross-sector robotics and autonomous systems development task force chaired by DSIT, and the National Committee in cross-sector RAS legislations, standards and ethics.

Vaibhav Puri OBE

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

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).

Ketao Zhang

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.

Dr. Steve Davis

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.