It seems robots can now be added to the pantheon of peril for MPs after a humanoid robot called Pepper helped to open a new STEM Centre in Essex last week.
The £10m building at Colchester Institute's Sheepen Road campus is aimed at educating students in fields such as robotics, construction and advanced manufacturing and design. The facility includes workshops, laboratories, classrooms and a library, and features state of the art equipment which Rapid has helped to supply. Colchester's MP Will Quince opened the building with a little help from Pepper.
"This centre is a hugely impressive asset for Colchester and surrounding areas. It's absolutely amazing to have this sort of facility in this town," said Mr Quince. "It's going to provide and contribute significantly to the education of thousands of young and adult students in full and part-time education and apprenticeships from across Colchester and the region. We all know and recognise the importance of vocational training and this new facility is going to very key to it."
Alison Andreas, principal and chief executive at Colchester Institute, said: "The South Wing building is another step towards achieving our ambitious capital development plans, all of which are aimed at supporting skills priority areas in Essex. As one of the largest colleges in the region it's our duty, and privilege, to provide local people with the skills they need to secure and succeed in the jobs and careers that are available locally."
In his speech Mr Quince said that it is never advisable for MPs to work with children or animals, adding that robots were a new experience for him. True to form, things didn't go quite as smoothly as hoped. Taking Pepper by the hand, the Conservative MP was led a little to the right as Pepper misjudged the location of a door, bringing some hilarity to the occasion and suggesting that even robots as intellligent as Pepper are by no means perfect.
