The National Center of Robotics and Automation, Pakistan

The National Center of Robotics and Automation is a consortia of 11 labs over 13 universities of Pakistan with its center headquarter at NUST College of E&ME. The center will serve as a leading technological hub within the domain of Robotics and Automation.

Having vision To manage and efficiently use the highly skilled researchers, scientists and experts of robotics and automation in order to generate resources based on our innate strengths towards transforming Pakistan into one of the technologically advanced nations of the world, It has been established in 2018 by NUST Islamabad.

Following objectives are of NCRA-Pakistan

1. Build national capacity to carry out R&D in the emerging field of Robotics and Automation by solving at least a small number of ‘hard’ problems identified and mutually agreed by a scientific committee comprising of local and international experts
2. Solve local problems and take solutions to market through technology commercialization and licensing
3. Provide high-value shared services to academia, startups and industrial partners
4. Human Resource Development in Robotics and Automation

The following labs are part of the NCRA, and have been selected through competitive evaluation and rigorous selection process carried out by HEC and Planning Commission of Pakistan:

1. Robot Maker Lab under NUST College of E&ME at NIC Islamabad
2. Robot Design and Development Lab at NUST College of E&ME
3. Human Centered Robotics Lab at UET Lahore and UCP Lahore
4. Industrial Monitoring and Automation Lab at ITU Lahore
5. MEMs Sensor Design and Testing Lab at Air University
6. Agricultural Robotics Lab at LUMS
7. UAV Dependability Lab at National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (FAST-NUCES)
8. Swarm Robotics Lab at UET Taxila
9. Haptics, Human-Robotics and Condition Monitoring Lab at NED Karachi and MUET
10. Control Automotive and Robotics Lab at BUITEM and MUST
11. Advanced Robotics and Automation Lab at UET Peshawar

The first national centre of excellence – The National Centre of Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) – was inaugurated on March 16, 2018 at the NUST School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering (SMME).