RoboK has secured £1m from UK Research and Innovation to lead PALLETS, a project to deliver trustworthy AI for safety and efficiency at UK ports and warehouses.
PALLETS (Proactive AI-powered solutions for Logistics Efficiency, Transparency and Safety) is funded through the UKRI Technology Missions Fund, part of a £32m programme to boost productivity in high-growth industries by accelerating the adoption of trustworthy AI.
The project targets two things that matter on every port and warehouse: hazards to people, and the operational bottlenecks that slow goods down. Its distinctive focus is on the conditions that stop AI being adopted in the first place: transparency about what the system does and does not see, data security, and the trust of the people whose workplaces it monitors.
Project partners are Astron Fire & Security, Freeport East, Port of Dover, The Finishing Line, the University of Essex and the Bristol Port Company.
Hao Zheng, founder and CEO of RoboK, said: "PALLETS aligns perfectly with RoboK's vision to create safer and more efficient industrial workplaces."
Steve Beel, CEO of Freeport East, said: "Freeport East is delighted to be involved in PALLETS. This demonstrates our role as convenor."
Camera-based safety technology only works if the people on site trust what it is for. That is a design constraint, not a communications problem: it shapes what is recorded, who sees it, how long it is kept, and how findings are used. PALLETS treats those questions as part of the engineering. It is the same principle that runs through how we think about safety.
RoboK is a University of Cambridge spinout. Its product, SiteLens, turns footage from existing cameras into safety and operational intelligence for ports, logistics and industrial sites. Read more on the company page.
Source: SETsquared, 24 January 2025. Also reported by BusinessCloud.