On the 10th May, the Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, made the formal announcement of the AIS (autonomous and intelligent systems) programme, which will inject £16 million into the UK robotics industry. Led by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the programme will provide funding for 22 university-based research projects in the UK. 

As part of this, LUCAS has secured £1M funding to aid it's novel research into autonomous and intelligent aerial systems.

The full breakdown of the AIS programme can be found here.