Following on from Kinect Assisted Intelligent Layup (KAIL) project, there was a feasibility study to further develop the concept that would become LayupRITE. That project, funded by a University of Bristol Impact Acceleration Account award, laid the groundwork for what would become the current project. Titled Augmented Learning for High Dexterity Manufacturing the project was submitted for the Manufacturing Skills Fund call for funding by the Ufi Charitable Trust.
The Ufi Charitable Trust, born from the sale of Learndirect in 2010, has the aim of increasing the scale of vocational learning. Their main mantra is “better, quicker, digital”. This mantra aligns closely with the guiding philosophy of LayupRITE as a whole. The main difference for the project, given its background as a manufacturing support tool, is that Ufi supports vocational learning specifically. The skills training aspect was always intended to be a part of the LayupRITE offering but until this project there hadn’t been any study of how this could be applied.
Sufficed to say, funding to continue to develop LayupRITE is always welcome, but the bigger impact to the project was introduction to field of vocational training. This project has been a steep learning curve but has also shown the opportunities for this technology to be used in a different setting to deliver real benefit. The opportunity has been a welcome one and given us valuable knowledge and insight into the world of vocational training.
More info on the Ufi Charitable Trust: https://www.ufi.co.uk/