The EPSRC equipment complements the recently completed laboratory (building) refurbishment of the Hamlyn Centre at Imperial College supported by the Wolfson Foundation and NIHR, which has created a dedicated research and translational space for robotically assisted microsurgery. The new facility is set to enhance the research capacity of developing new generations of medical robotics and facilitate the interaction and initiation of new research programmes across a number of different disciplines, both within and outside of Imperial College, thus promoting the strategic growth of the research base in robotics and autonomous systems for the UK.

The facility has a range of equipment in the following areas:

• Multi-material, precision 3D rapid prototyping with materials ranging from thermoplastics, photopolymers, to metal with direct metal laser sintering;
• Micro-machining and fabrication equipment including micro-lathe, laser profiling and fabrication platforms;
• Micro-assembly platforms with associated microscopes and 3D imaging systems;
• Fibre-optics and ablation laser required for robotically assisted in-vivo cellular-level optical imaging, tissue characterisation and ablation.