"The next industrial revolution": Pearson Engineering embraces autonomy and robotics

Pearson Engineering has long delivered essential combat engineering capabilities to the UK and its allies, ranging from mine clearance to assault gap crossing. The company is now looking to the future of the battlespace, pursuing innovations in autonomy and robotics to better identify threats and enhance warfighter safety.

Based in Armstrong Works, a purpose-built armoured vehicle manufacturing site in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, northern England, Pearson provides a wide range of critical engineering capabilities for the British Army and other military customers. It specialises in combat engineering, battlefield mobility and counter-mobility equipment, with this ranging from mine ploughs to robotics and autonomous systems.

Such capabilities meet longstanding requirements from armed forces across the globe, said Ian Bell, the company’s group chief executive officer. But the battlespace is changing, an evolution accelerated by the pace of technological innovation.

“Our primary aim has always been to safeguard soldiers on the battlefield and to help them with armoured mobility, whether it be breaching a minefield or keeping them safely out of harm's way,” he said. “However, new technology is rapidly changing our ability to enhance the safety of personnel.”

For example, Bell pointed to Pearson Engineering’s work on WEEVIL, which was developed in collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) in the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). WEEVIL comprises a specially adapted mine plough attached to a Warrior infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), which can be operated by a single soldier several miles from danger.

The capability is founded on existing Pearson Engineering innovation, notably the BEACON remote control system, which allows fighting vehicles to be used as optionally crewed robotic assets and is compatible with a range of the company’s attachments and equipment, as well as third-party systems.

Sensing the threat

This is just one aspect of the autonomous innovation being pursued in the combat engineering space. Bell also pointed to Threat-Sense, an AI-powered capability that enables military vehicles and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to detect and identify surface land mines.

Based on a passive Threat-Sense Processing Unit (TSPU), the technology analyses video streams from vehicle-mounted cameras, searching for threats based on its comprehensive library. If detected, these threats are highlighted on a screen in the vehicle or on a handheld operator control unit, with an audible warning being sounded.

“It's smart enough to identify threats whether they are surface-laid, or whether there is ground disturbance and a deliberate effort has been made to lay a mine under the surface,” Bell explained.

This means that operators can quickly identify hazardous zones to be addressed immediately or later, or simply avoided, Bell said, meeting the key goal of removing people from danger.

WEEVIL and Threat-Sense are just two examples of technology solutions that ultimately improve safety and boost performance. Bell also pointed to the RCV-Pioneer, a self-contained, preconfigured frame that provides remote-controlled engineering capability to robotic combat vehicles (RCVs).

These advances are part of a wider trend: the aim to provide autonomous vehicles with the best intelligence-gathering capabilities for situational awareness and the ability to identify and neutralise threats at distance and at pace. Such technologies should be largely vehicle-agnostic, compatible with lightweight platforms or main battle tanks.

With technology like WEEVIL and RCV Pioneer, vehicles of all weights and sizes can be manoeuvred and controlled at distance. When combined with an AI capability such as Threat-Sense, this enables the clearance of land at scale, all while minimising the danger to personnel.

“We are witnessing the next industrial revolution in many respects, with the adoption of autonomy and AI. That will enable us to really enhance the safety of the human being,” said Bell.

Heavy engineering history

Pearson Engineering has an almost 200-year history of heavy engineering from its site at Armstrong Works, based on the River Tyne. It has over 300 employees working there, in Pearson Engineering and subsidiary Responsive Engineering, which manufactures specialist armoured fabrications, as well as structures for the rail and energy sectors.

Pearson Engineering has invested heavily in upgrading and expanding its manufacturing capabilities in recent years, Bell said. This has two major focuses.

“First, it is aimed at securing our core business, while at the same time maintaining our position as a thought leader in terms of how AI, robotics and autonomy can add value to the battlespace.”

Pearson Engineering is keen to build on its position as a British company and a leader in the UK market, Bell noted. However, its work as a key supplier to the British Army has helped it build a substantial export business, with military customers in more than 75 countries. This represents about 80% of the equipment sold today, Bell said.

Supporting Ukraine

The international focus is crucial. Mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) are a particular priority in the humanitarian space, where innovation in autonomy is having a life-saving impact.

For example, Pearson Engineering equipment is being used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to detect and defeat mines and IEDs, in what is now the most-mined nation in the world. Ukraine has access to a range of the company’s capabilities under a contract from the UK MoD, awarded on behalf of the British-administered International Fund for Ukraine (IFU).

This hardware includes multi-purpose vehicle interfaces that enable armoured vehicles to support self-protection mine ploughs, as well as the MW370 remotely controlled mine clearance platform.

Pearson Engineering is working to build on these efforts, said Bell. It is keen to work closely with the rapidly expanding Ukrainian defence industry, focusing on “enabling building at scale locally and preparing Ukraine to be able to maintain, repair and overhaul our equipment,” he explained.

Of course, the situation facing Kyiv is not unique, with many countries confronted by significant challenges in clearing minefields and explosives as a result of conflict. “Our aim is to get to a point where we can offer governments autonomous mine clearance at scale and get the land back to the population,” said Bell.

Diverse workforce

As Pearson Engineering deepens its work around the globe and enhances its technological innovation in AI and beyond, it will depend upon a workforce with a wide range of skills and expertise. This is vital for its traditional heavy engineering work but also across new skillsets, with demand for a broad range of AI and autonomy experts, as well as specialists in robotics and other rapidly developing areas.

Bell said that as a large direct and indirect employer in the region, Pearson Engineering is keen to lead regeneration efforts in the North East.

“We're extremely fortunate that there is a very solid skills base here, but we're also very conscious that to attract the right people – particularly with AI skills and in the other emerging technologies that we are now starting to explore – we need to make sure that Pearson Engineering is an employer of choice.”

These efforts are showing strong results, he said. For example, in 2024 the company advertised a requirement for five graduate engineers and received almost 90 applications.

“We are seen as an exciting company. We're on a very interesting journey of sustainable growth, and my role as the CEO is to take this valuable national asset with unique engineering capabilities and move it into its next phase, where we are very conscious of AI and continuing to reduce the risk to individuals.”

Future foundations

Bell himself has led a varied career in both the UK military and across the commercial defence sector in Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. Still, he believes his position in Pearson Engineering is “the best job I've had”, given the range of work involved and the company’s expanding efforts to incorporate new technologies.

Pearson Engineering is continuously seeking to adapt its workforce and facilities for the challenges and opportunities of the modern battlespace, Bell concluded. More expertise will be developed in-house across key technological domains, he said; the 2026 cohort of apprentices will be educated inside the factory, for instance, an important step both for the further development of the business and its position as an industrial leader in the region.

Autonomy will likely be a central focus across all aspects of the company’s work, he added: in every area, the priority will be to remove humans from danger as far as possible, while ensuring they remain in total control.

“You will always have a human making the final decision – I don't think the rules of engagement will allow AI to make the final decisions. But we are moving very, very rapidly into a space where autonomy and robotics will be at the fore.”

Visit Pearson Engineering at DSEI 2025 at stand N2-310 to learn more.