The Robotics Innovation Centre is located at CSIRO’s Queensland Centre of Advanced Technologies, and houses the biggest motion capture system in the Southern Hemisphere, used to validate data collected by robotics systems.

It also features a 13x5m pool for testing aquatic robots, a significant number of field-deployable UAVs and UGVs, legged robots, high-accuracy robot manipulators as well as sensors and telemetry systems.

Industry, Science and Technology Minister Karen Andrews welcomed Data61’s unveiling of the new 600 square metre purpose-built research facility for robotics and autonomous systems, an industry set to be worth $23 billion by 2025.

“CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, has a long history of robotics research excellence and has established itself as one of the world’s leading robotics research groups,” she said.  

“Robots and autonomous systems are unlocking new value and supporting traditional industries like mining, agriculture and manufacturing to grow the economy and create more jobs.

“The Liberal National Government recognises the value of our science, research and technology sectors in achieving that growth. That’s why we have invested $97 million more into CSIRO compared to when Labor was last in government.”

Andrews said the Robotics Innovation Centre, as well as Data61’s extensive robotics laboratory infrastructure in Queensland, is a national asset, open for industry use and projects where researchers and industry work together.

“This investment is part of our plan to boost our economy and create an additional 1.25 million jobs over the next five years,” she said.