WAITROSE TRIALLING NEW FARMING TECH AT THAMES VALLEY FARM

Bracknell-headquartered supermarket Waitrose is trialling a range of farming innovations on its Leckford Estate, south of Andover.

James Bailey, executive director of Waitrose, said: “We will use a combination of research and practical application to identify the best farming techniques to help us manage this land in a way that is kinder to the environment.

“Leckford will be an experiment in farming best practice, one that we hope will pave the way to genuine solutions to help conserve our soil, air and water for future generations and importantly, help us deliver our 2035 commitment.

“There is, however, little value in doing this work alone and we are realistic about what this can achieve in isolation,” he added.

“We intend to share all findings with our farmers, suppliers and anyone interested across the agriculture and retail industries, to elevate regeneration and conservation from a status of ‘nice to have’ to essential everyday farming practice.”

Leckford has already begun a number of sustainable energy projects to replace fossil fuels. For example, in addition to the Partnership’s gradual switch to electric vehicles, it will trial the use of biomethane to power tractors, as well as hydrogenated vegetable oil to run food processing and farming activities. It also works with the Small Robot Company to drive innovation in the low-emission autonomous machinery sector.

It is investing in a facility to capture biomethane and convert it into an ecofriendly fuel alternative to power vehicles.

Other projects include capturing waste from its milk processing unit and sending it to an external company for use as a natural energy source and developing methods to promote topsoil regeneration, improve water efficiency and support biosequestration.

Robotics experts at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry have developed an autonomous robotic rat which can scurry along underground pipes carrying out inspection work. The invention could cut costs and boost efficiencies for utility companies as well as reducing human exposure to hazardous environments and preventing pipework leaks.

“Ratty the Robot” is a tetherless wheeled inspection robot with a laser-based navigation module, with the potential to carry out tasks in environments which would defeat most robots.

As the robot can self-drive it reduces the need for a human operator. It can also automatically map complex pipework and tunnel systems which have built up over many years.

MTC advanced robotics research engineer

Dr Mahesh Dissanayake said the pipecrawling robot demonstrated how robotics and automation can benefit a wide variety of sectors.

“This proof-of-concept robot can travel in confined spaces, inspecting networks while working fully autonomously. It opens the opportunity of inspecting far more of the underground network at a much-reduced cost, reducing failure rates and flagging up potential problems. With technology advancing all the time, the next exciting step could be a robot which not only inspects pipework but can carry out repairs remotely without having to dig up roads,” he said.

Currently, most advanced inspection work of drainage, sewage and gas supply pipes is carried out by tethered devices managed by operators, which is costly, slow and labour intensive, and which has difficulty reaching some areas.

Sapphire sensors could boost emission reductions in aerospace and power generation

Oxford University researchers have developed a sensor made of sapphire fibre that can tolerate extreme temperatures.

They say it has the potential to enable significant efficiency improvements and emission reduction in aerospace and power generation.

The researcher’s work, published in the journal Optics Express, outlines how a sapphire optical fibre – a thread of industrially-grown sapphire less than half a millimetre thick – can withstand temperatures over 2000C. When light is injected on to one end of the fibre, some is reflected back from a point along the fibre which has been modified to be temperature sensitive. The wavelength (colour) of this reflected light is a measure of the temperature at that point.

Researcher Dr Mohan Wang of the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford said: “The sensors are fabricated using a high-power laser with extremely short pulses and a significant hurdle was preventing the sapphire from cracking.”

The work is part of a £1.2 million Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Fellowship Grant held by Dr Julian Fells at the University’s Department of Engineering Science.

It was carried out with Rolls-Royce, the UK Atomic Energy Authority, Cranfield University, Halliburton and Canadian company MDA Space and Robotics, which has a base at Harwell Campus.

Rob Skilton, Head of Research at Culham-based Remote Access in Challenging Areas (RACE), part of the UK Atomic Energy Authority said: “This technology has the potential to significantly increase the capabilities of future sensor and robotic maintenance systems in this sector, helping UKAEA in its mission to deliver safe, sustainable, low carbon fusion power to the grid.”