Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) held its first competition in which there were five categories that a machine could be entered. These included :Weird and Wonderful, Discovery, Equipment, Innovation, and People. Professor David Delpy, EPSRC’s Chief Executive was extremely impressed by the breadth of images and imagination exhibited demonstrating the talent, both scientific and artistic, that resides in the community.

Toby Harris, a PhD student at Queen Mary University of London’s Cognitive Science Research Group won the award for his Stand Up Comedian Robot.  Harris said they were thrilled that their experiment pitting human stand-up comedians against a robot was inspiring others. This ground-breaking research was helping them to understand both what makes for a great performance and what makes for a compelling audience experience.

They used new technologies to analyse people’s moment-by-moment responses, so while teaching a robot stagecraft was fun, it was the ability to read and react to the audience that made it work. More than the creative industries were at stake here said Harris, by better understanding what happens between performers and audiences, we should gain new insights into the value of bringing students together for class, or workers to a conference table.

Other science project entries to the inaugural competition of the EPSRC included the beauty of Rayleigh-Taylor instability shown in salt water as it accelerates into fresh water, the amazing Gömböc – the world’s only artificial self-righting shape, micro-scale vaccine mixing, cancer cells that resemble tropical islands seen from space, and mathematicians that appear to fly