The technologies that will fill Advanced Engineering’s innovation spots

Advanced Engineering, the home of innovation in UK engineering and manufacturing, has announced a series of products and technologies that will fill its special innovation spots at the exhibition. Here, visitors can see the most cutting-edge technology in engineering and manufacturing. The show, which will take place on November 2 and 3, 2022 at the NEC, Birmingham, will unite professionals from the aerospace, automotive, medical, composites, performance metals and connected manufacturing.

This year, Advanced Engineering will showcase seven innovations across the show floor. Advanced manufacturing experts from the University of Manchester will give attendees a glimpse into what human life in space could look like, with a graphene-enhanced space habitat that has been developed to meet anticipated demand for human settlements beyond Earth.

The university has teamed up with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to research the design and manufacturing of the habitat, and are now in a position to bring along a scaled prototype, complete with pressurised vessels designed to function in space.

Two innovations born out of the Formula Student competition will also be on show, with Oxford Brookes Racing and Warwick Racing both demonstrating the power of electric in the formula circuit. A recent survey conducted by Advanced Engineering in conjunction with YouGov found that 54 per cent of respondents were unlikely to own an EV by 2030. Both Warwick and Oxford Brookes’ aim is to demonstrate that electric vehicles can succeed not only on the roads, but also on the track.

In line with its ambition to enable cross-industry collaboration, Advanced Engineering is excited to announce that Bcomp, a leading solutions provider for natural fibre reinforcements in high performance applications will also showcase a range of components. These components are regularly used in sports, motorsports, but also automotive interiors, luxury sailing yachts, bridges and satellite panels.

Grain storage operator, Crover, has also secured a innovation slot at this year’s exhibition, thanks to the creation of the world’s first granular drone, which is able to move through bulk solids and powders. Crover’s method of movement in granular materials is made possible by a ground-breaking physical discovery, enabling locomotion in bulk solids.

Spacecraft propulsion pioneer, Plastron, will take one of the innovation spaces this year. Plastron will host a combined partial physical mock-up and virtual reality environment of its own facility. This will provide visitors with an understanding of a typical in situ application of the facility against a backdrop of how the UK space industry is developing. Plastron has over 40 years of experience in spacecraft propulsion system design, testing and launch-site operations across scientific and communication satellite programmes.

Finally, keynote speaker and Industry 4.0 Solutions Architect at IBM, Ian Gardner will showcase the Attentional Machines Cat, which was first prototyped in 2019. The autonomous robot uses attention to learn about and explore the world, and can be taught by its owner through adaptive artificial intelligence.

There’s less than two weeks until Advanced Engineering’s doors open for 2022. To secure your pass, visit www.advancedengineeringuk.com to register as a visitor.