The government has published a UK strategy for stimulating growth in robotics and autonomous systems (RAS).

The aim is to improve the business prospects of the country's robotics specialists, amid mounting competition from countries like Japan, Korea and the United States.

One area seen as ripe for growth is medical robotics.

Professor Guang-Zhong Yang, Director of the Hamlyn Centre at Imperial College London, specialises in developing this kind of technology with his students.

Among the innovations they are working on is a catheter robot which can pass through an artery to deploy a stent (which is used to treat narrow or weak arteries). The robot and its software learn from the previous operations of surgeons, to aid the complex process of navigation.

Video Journalist:Dougal Shaw