Partnering to Remove Humans from Dangerous Situations

Data-driven VR simulation company VRAI, in partnership with Cyberselves, a Sheffield-based robotics software company, have won the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) contract focussed on the development of telexistence technology solutions to physically remove humans from dangerous situations. Cyberselves are a recent spin out of the University of Sheffield, and VRAI are based in Gateshead’s Proto Centre.

The project, TEL-E3, will see the integration of three important technological components: Cyberselves’ robot-agnostic software and telepresence platform, Animus, VRAI’s HEAT VR data capture and analysis software, and Teslasuit haptic suits.

The demonstration will enable a user to control the KUKA youBot via a VR headset user interface and a haptic suit, as well as gathering performance data from biometric sensors. By using existing technologies and a proven robotics hardware platform, the programme will demonstrate how this system can be transferred to other robots to meet a range of needs.

This project will provide a robot-agnostic, low-latency communication system that addresses all three challenge areas of telepresence: haptics, robotics, and telecoms. Its potential application using autonomous vehicles in defence and security settings such as bomb disposal and nuclear decommissioning are clear, but its application in areas such as offshore wind production and even in space is also very exciting.

Co-founder of VRAI, Pat O’Connor, said: “We believe that using robotics to remove people from risky environments, while leveraging technology such as VR to keep people immersed in the decision making loop, will ultimately help save lives and improve operational capability. I think this partnership shows the potential for how the “levelling up” agenda can be supported by funding high potential technology companies to solve complex customer problems."

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With the growing application of robots and autonomous vehicles in Defence, that can be deployed in situations and areas which could pose an unacceptable risk to humans, this DASA project will also be analysing the large datasets gathered that can subsequently be exploited using AI to improve future decision making.

DASA announced £800k in total for 11 projects associated with this Telexistence theme.