Roke, legally Roke Manor Research Ltd, is a British company based at Roke Manor near Romsey, Hampshire, which conducts research and development in the fields of communications, networks, electronic sensors, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, Military decision support consultancy and operational analysis, information assurance, and human science. In addition to supporting its parent Chemring, Roke undertakes contract research and development, and product development work for both public and private sector customers. Products developed from research at Roke Manor include the Hawk-Eye ball tracker, which is now used widely in sports such as tennis, football, and cricket. Roke has been part of the Chemring Group since 2010, having been founded as part of the Plessey company to operate as a dedicated research and development centre, with mass production elsewhere, and later owned for almost 20 years by Siemens where it had a similar research role.

History

Sites

The company's head office is at Roke Manor, Hampshire. It also has facilities in the Barnwood area of Gloucester, Woking and in central Manchester. The Roke Manor site is based around a manor house which dates in part from 1653. The 22 acre grounds had a walled garden, stable block and cottages when bought by Plessey in 1956, and initially these were re-used for laboratory space and meeting rooms, but in various modernisation programmes, many of the original buildings have been demolished and much of the grounds covered by purpose-built facilities and car parking. The main house, entrance lodge and walled garden remain.

Technology timeline

Selected products