Launch of the MAvRiC Robotics Centre at Ulster University Belfast Campus

10 Sep 2025

Today marks the official launch of the Multi-Agent and Advanced Robotics Centre (MAvRiC) at Ulster University Belfast Campus. Based in the School of Engineering and led by Mark Ng (PI) and Prof. James McLaughlin (Co-I), the DfE-funded lab features state-of-the-art robotic systems for active research and teaching in the coming years, with close to £250k of new equipment including

2x ER-FLEX 250 (UR-5e cobot + MiR250 AMR combo)
4x Turtlebot4
3x Bambulab X1 Multi-Filament (AMS) and Multi-Material-capable 3D-Printers
3x OrangeApps KUKA-compatible Robotic Arms
4x MinSeg Robotic System
Sonotec PR 200 Combi Pulser
Picoscope 5443D Oscilloscope
Ultrasonic Immersion and Contact Transducers

Other existing equipment featured in the lab, bringing it to more than £500k in value including the new equipment above are

INTECO Dual-Rotor Aerodynamical System
INTECO Antilock Braking System (ABS)
Festo CP LAB Variant 3, which includes the following:
- 6x Pallet Transfer System
- 4x System Trainers With A4 Frames
- 2x CP Bridge
- 1x Robotino + SIM Environment
- 2x Magazine Modules
- 1x Measurement Module
- 1x Muscle Press Module
- 1x Tunnel Furnace Module
- 1x Workpiece Output Module
NVIDIA Jetson TX2

The lab will facilitate research and teaching in the fields of robotics and mechatronics systems, control theory, digital twinning, additive and advanced manufacturing, rapid prototyping, non-destructive testing (NDT) using ultrasonic testing (UT), etc. Furthermore, these activities will be supported by other tied-in facilities available at Ulster such as the Dell Bright Cluster HPC and Digital Twin System, which consists of the following components:

1 PowerEdge R6525 Head Node
3 PowerEdge R6525 Compute Node
1 PowerEdge R750 GPU Node
1 PowerEdge R6515 SDP Node

To date, MAvRiC has been made a showcase during the recent UCAS Open Day as well as the East Belfast Summer School.

In addition, MAvRiC also hosted Martin and Tomáš, who joined through the EU Erasmus+ Summer Traineeship Programme. Both Martin and Tomáš have played key role in helping to establish the fundamental setup of the lab, which include an arena for autonomous SLAM for the Turtlebots, as well as the robot-robot communication and simulated manufacturing showcase for the ER-FLEX’s.

MAvRiC, with key research members Mark Ng, Prof. James McLaughlin, Dr Morteza Tabatabaeipour, Dr Ming-wei Chang, Prof. Dewar Finlay, and wider members of the School of Engineering, welcomes and looks forward to establish crucial academic and industry collaborations in the key tech areas above.

For more information and interest in collaboration, please contact Mark Ng at mark.ng@ulster.ac.uk.

Featured facilities in MAvRiC: