Three firms awarded £1.3m for nuclear decommissioning and defence telexistence tech

Telexistence technology has the potential to give those working in hazardous environments the capability to undertake tasks without physically being present

Three organisations have been awarded £1.3 million in contracts to develop innovative telexistence technologies for nuclear decommissioning.

Telexistence technology has the potential to give those working in hazardous environments the capability to undertake tasks without physically being present, which can decrease the risk and reduce the logistical burden associated with dangerous operations.

It can also be used for defence and security applications.

Innovators were tasked with evaluating their innovations against use cases in specialist nuclear decommissioning tasks, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and defence and security medical application.

The winners are TNO, University of Sheffield and Cyberselves Universal.

They were announced by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA).

Andrew Gray, Innovation Delivery, Manager Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said: “We are excited to be working with DASA and Dstl on this competition. Advancing technologies in the area of telexistence will help us deliver our decommissioning mission more safely, securely and efficiently in enabling us to move humans away from harm.

“It’s our aim to reduce decommissioning activities carried out by humans in hazardous environments by 50% by 2030. We are really encouraged to see such fantastic solutions being put forward by the supply chain.”

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