The next step with Bob is extending the amount of time he can function. Other STRANDS partners are working in the area of ‘care’, in a hospital in Vienna where a robot is doing some work. ‘There is going to be a big industry building and programming robots so we think our students need to be looking at that,’ says Dr Hawes. So at the university they ‘teach robotics; we have a Robot Club where students work on Bob and similar robots. We are really trying to get everyone, from 18 upwards, working on this technology because it is going to be huge.’