A prestigious robotics competition is returning to Milton Keynes this September, with university teams from across Europe testing their tech to tackle real-world tasks like delivering coffee orders, helping people around the home, picking and packing and flying drones to deliver medicine.
Following the success of the 2019 and 2023 competitions previously held in Milton Keynes, the Smart City Robotics Competition is back at centre:mk from September 23-25. Milton Keynes City Council and centre:mk are principal partners, with the Smart City Consultancy running the competition alongside founders euRobotics.
The competition highlights Milton Keynes’ position as a leading UK city for technology. Already, one in three jobs in the city is in tech, and the city council and its partners have ambitious plans to grow and connect the sector. The competition will also be part of the city’s upcoming Milton Keynes Tech Week 2025, with more details to be announced soon.
Teams will compete in five categories, including:
- Coffee shop orders – robots take table orders, collect and deliver them safely in a busy café setting
- Through the door – navigating doors by operating handles and demonstrating motion, planning and control
- Helping out at home – assisting people with limited mobility by fetching household items
- Picking and packing – finding items on shelves and getting them to checkout
- Drone delivery – flying across controlled areas to drop off medicine and blood samples
Cabinet member for planning and placemaking, Cllr Shanika Mahendran, said: “This is exactly the kind of event and talent that we want in Milton Keynes. We’re really looking forward to seeing how smart tech can make everyday life easier, especially for our more vulnerable residents by helping them out at home and delivering medicine. We’re proud to have been chosen again and this gives us yet another opportunity to welcome new ideas, test technologies and help bring them to life.”
Kevin Duffy, centre director centre:mk, said: “Since inception Milton Keynes has been at the forefront of innovation and to be able to welcome and test the best and brightest students from Universities across Europe while inspiring the robotics engineers of the future is a unique and exciting prospect. To have such a strong strategic partnership between the public and private sector is testament to the success of the previous competitions hosted at centre:mk and we are confident that this year’s competition will be even bigger and better.”
CEO Smart City Consultancy, Ian Pulford, said: “The Smart City Robotics Competition is back again in Milton Keynes to showcase the emerging talent in the area of robotics, in real world challenges by some of the top universities in the UK and across Europe. We have a community of leading tech industry with government and council supporting this exciting public event that shows the societal benefits of service robots, autonomous vehicles and drones.”
