Discovering the nature of particle dark matter (DM) is a key priority in Physics - and for STFC. Direct detection of electroweak-scale DM in our galaxy is the primary goal of the XLZD consortium, formed by the coming together of the foremost collaborations in the field: XENON-nT, LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) and DARWIN. XLZD is proposing a large underground experiment based on the leading liquid xenon (LXe) technology: the definitive search for WIMP DM, able to rule out or discover in the accessible parameter space remaining above the irreducible neutrino background. The scientific potential of such a "rare event observatory" is detailed in a comprehensive white paper signed by 600 authors worldwide. LZ and Xenon-nT are the leading experiments in the field at present. Discovery of DM at XLZD would have profound implications for our understanding of the universe, its birth and its structure. STFC is currently considering a proposal to host the XLZD experiment in a state-of-the-art new facility at the Boulby Underground Laboratory in North Yorkshire (XLZD@Boulby). A liquid xenon rare event observatory might well be the largest project hosted at Boulby, supported by the largest international collaboration visiting the facility, and hence it would drive the facility design to a significant degree. This project will engage UK industry in planning for industrialising the construction of XLZD underground at Boulby, identify cost-effective routes to the supply of the necessary xenon stock, and plan for training of the skilled workforce in the local area that will be required to construct, install and operate the experiment. This project will prepare the way for the major investment in goods, services and people in the local area that will contribute substantially to the levelling-up of the North-East.

Mechanical metamaterials are materials that are specially designed to have unprecedented mechanical properties and multi-physics characteristics beyond those of classical natural materials. The properties of mechanical metamaterials are defined by their topology and geometrical architecture, and the characteristics of the materials which they are made from. Changing any of these directly affects the structural response and allows us to explore new areas in the material property space. Interesting properties that metamaterials exhibit include zero and negative Poisson's ratio leading to unexpected behaviour when subjected to mechanical stresses and strains, zero and negative stiffness, ability to absorb/dissipate energy and ability to isolate vibration. These properties give metamaterials high industrial value as illustrated by the global metamaterials market, valued at $1.5 billion in 2022 and forecast to grow to $22.9 billion by 2028. The focus of I5M is Mechanical Constant-Force MetaMaterials (CFMMs). These can deliver a quasi-constant output force over a range of input displacements (i.e., they can apply a constant pressure on a surface or object). This means they can act as passive force regulation and vibration isolation devices without any need for sensors and complex electromechanical control systems and have potential to be used in many applications such as robotic automation, overload protection, and precision manipulation. Despite recent advances in materials and manufacturing, CFMM development suffers drawbacks such as limited material selection and working range, unrealistic theoretical assumptions, high computational cost, need for assembly, material waste, and ignored fatigue performance. These drawbacks mean that a huge portion of the CFMM design space remains untouched. To address these challenges, a methodologic breakthrough is required that seamlessly integrates the four pillars of CFMM development: material, modelling, design, and manufacturing. Hyper-ThermoVisco-Pseudoelastic (HTVP) materials like Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) have a nonlinear stress-strain behaviour and possess an inherent energy dissipation capability with excellent toughness and cyclic fatigue resistance. Employing the inherent energy dissipation feature of HTVP materials and unique behaviour of CFMMs along with advances in 3D printing can realise CFMMs with tailorable static and dynamic properties and open a vast design space meeting desired characteristics. This project aims to exploit inherent energy dissipation features of HTVP materials and develop an Integrated Material-Modelling-Manufacturing paradigm to create a new class of Mechanical metamaterials so-called Meta-regulators (i.e., I5M) with minimal computational cost, material usage and expert interference. I5M will break new ground by creating and exploiting breakthroughs in HTVP materials with variable soft-to-stiff properties, triaxial normal-shear constitutive modelling, physics-informed machine learning for evolutionary inverse design, and sustainable 3D printing. I5M technology will represent a fundamentally new field of sustainable metamaterials paradigm and create passive HTVP meta-regulators with built-in functionalities such as with programmable quasi-zero stiffness, quasi-constant force regulation, tuneable vibration isolation and fatigue resistance. I5M will minimise the expert interference, for example, I5M will simply receive constant force-displacement response and vibration transmissibility as input, determine optimum material and geometrical parameters, and then 3D print a meta-regulator meeting those requirements. I5M will validate HTVP meta-regulators functionality via 4 demonstrators for healthcare, automotive, aerospace and sport industries.

The use of industrial robots, specifically multi-axis robotic systems, for object handling and manipulation has significantly increased due to the need to reduce costs, increase production efficiency and avoid difficult and dangerous jobs for humans. Despite the important capabilities of robots, especially in manufacturing, and their use in many types of process automation, their accuracy is relatively poor (in the millimetre range for 1 m^3 working volume), compared to other Cartesian-based Numerically Controlled (NC) automation systems, due to their joint compliance and relatively high structural flexibility in comparison to load capacity. Because of these limitations, robots are restricted in their use for processes that require very high accuracy. Recently, collaborative robots, a special type of multi-axis industrial robot, that can be placed without a safety fence, have become a popular choice due to their flexibility, simplicity to re-program and ability to safely work collaboratively with humans in the same workplace. The joint compliance in these collaborative robots is even less rigid than traditional industrial robots due to the need to have responsive force sensing and coalition-reaction capabilities, further decreasing accuracy capabilities. Most collaborative robots are unable to achieve an absolute positioning accuracy within a 1 m^3 working volume of less than 2.5 mm, making their accuracy more than one order of magnitude higher than their resolution (0.1 mm). This low accuracy limits their utilisation, especially for collaborative robot, so that they are generally restricted to simple pick-and-place tasks. This project will increase by an order of magnitude the absolute positioning accuracy of industrial robots with multi-axis motion to less than 100 micrometres for working volumes exceeding 1 m^3. In this way we will enable precise object manipulation across many application areas.

To design the future of products we need the future of prototyping tools. Across the £30Bn+ consumer product markets, priorities such as demand for non-technical user voice vie against advanced products and tough time/cost targets. These pressures are acutely felt in the prototyping process, where models often number in the 100s for a single product, and are inflexible, technically advanced, and resource-intensive to create. To succeed and evolve prototyping needs to do more, quicker, cheaper, with higher accessibility. This project aims to enhance learning, accessibility, and efficiency during prototyping. It will explore feasibility and value of seamlessly integrating physical and digital prototyping into a single workflow. Recent and rapidly emerging technologies such as mixed reality, haptic interfaces, and gesture control have revolutionised the way we interact with the digital world. It's predicted that this tech will be ubiquitous by 2025, will be disruptive for the next decade, and will drive the way we work and interact across the future digital workplace, with engineering a top-5 sector to realise value. In prototyping, they will break down the physical-digital divide and create seamless experiences, where the strengths of each domain are realised simultaneously. This new physical-digital integrated workflow brings profound opportunities for both engineers and users, supporting technical activities and simplifying communication. Amongst many possibilities users may physically create and feel digital changes to prototypes in real-time, dynamically overlay advanced analyses onto physical models, and support early-stage decision-making with physical-digital, tactile, interactive prototypes. These capabilities will allow more learning per prototype, widen accessibility to technical design and streamline the prototyping process. However, we don't yet know how this exciting vision may be fulfilled, exactly what benefits, value or costs there may be, feasibility of implementation, or effective workflow approaches. The project will explore physical-digital workflow by creating and investigating several demonstrator platforms that combine and apply haptic, mixed reality, and gesture control technologies in targeted prototyping scenarios. Technologies will be explored to understand capability in isolated sprints, before prioritisation and development into focused demonstrator tools that allow us to explore integrated workflow across real prototyping cases, spanning activities, types, and stakeholders. Demonstrators will be evaluated and verified with end-users, industry partners, and the public to establish learning, speed, cost, and usage characteristics. Project outcomes will comprise workflows for integrated prototyping with knowledge of value, effectiveness, feasibility, and future opportunities. A 'toolkit' of implementations will also provide exemplars for industrial partners and academia and lead the effective use of integrated physical-digital workflow in engineering. All software and hardware will be open-sourced via Github and the project webpage, letting global researchers and the public create their own systems and build upon the work. Future work will extend capabilities in line with outcomes of the work, leading to the next generation of engineering design and prototyping tools. Industrial Partners The Product Partnership (Amalgam, Realise Design, and Cubik) and AMRC will bring prototyping, engineers, and end-user expertise and benefit from the workflows and technologies that are developed. OEMs Ultraleap and Autodesk will bring immersive technology expertise and access to cutting edge design systems, and will benefit from case study implementations and studies and future application opportunities. Bristol Digital Futures Institute will facilitate collaboration across 20+ partner businesses and the public, with outputs supporting their mission for digital solutions that tackle global problems.

The Digital Innovation and Circular Economy (DICE) Network+ aims to drive a transformative shift in the sustainability and circularity of digital and communication technologies. Our vision leverages the digital revolution to foster a circular economy across sectors and value chains, adopting a "network of networks" approach for interdisciplinary collaboration, research, and technological innovation. DICE focuses on overcoming challenges such as the lack of circular economy principles in digital technology design and manufacture, and the poor understanding and coordination of digital advancements in supporting the transition towards a UK circular economy. Our network comprises 11 investigators, from engineering, materials science and social sciences and a wide range of partners, including universities, industry stakeholders, and public bodies. It aims to benefit stakeholders through the co-creation of innovative solutions, fostering knowledge exchange, supporting projects that promote digitally enabled circular economy adoption and guidance on future policy making and industrial decision making. The approach centres around interdisciplinary collaboration, leveraging our extensive existing networks (over £160m of funding since 2020) for maximum impact, and a structured programme of network engagement under the four pillars of Insight and Evidence, Inclusive Community, Capacity Building and Knowledge Exchange, and Research Impact and Legacy. DICE's activities include mapping exercises, webinars, annual showcases, co-creation workshops, knowledge exchange placements, feasibility studies, and demonstrator projects, culminating in the development of a 10-year vision and roadmap towards a digitally enabled CE to guide future policy making, industrial decision making, investment and technological development.