Read the University of Lincoln’s full story: Next Generation Explores the Future of Robotics at the University of Lincoln

Around 300 students and staff from 15 schools and colleges across the East Midlands came to the University of Lincoln on Thursday 10 September 2026 for the Annual Sir Isaac Newton Lecture. Held in the Sir Isaac Newton Lecture Theatre on the Brayford Pool campus, this year’s lecture explored robotics and artificial intelligence, and the keynote was given by our colleague Ionut Moraru.

Robots that look after every plant

Ionut, Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Robotics and AI and Early Career Research Lead for the Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology (LIAT), introduced the audience of 14 to 18-year-olds to research on the next generation of agricultural robots. He showed how robotics and AI could help farmers cut the use of fertilisers and pesticides and tackle herbicide-resistant weeds, by treating a field not as one crop but as thousands of individual plants, each with its own needs.

His message to the students was simple: a robot is “simply a machine that senses, thinks and acts”, and on a farm each of those steps is a hard and interesting problem waiting for the next generation to solve.

About the lecture

Alongside the keynote, students heard shorter TED-style talks on robotics in manufacturing, industry, research and scientific discovery, and put their questions to the speakers. The Sir Isaac Newton Lecture has introduced young people to STEM subjects since 1987. It is sponsored by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Royal Aeronautical Society, with support from the University’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences and local employers, and Leicestershire Education Business Company coordinates the STEM ambassadors on the day.