Congratulations to Gordon Dobie and the team. The project entitled ‘Advanced Robotic Inspection & Evaluation System (ARIES)’ has been awarded to the University of Strathclyde and its partners FIS360, Sellafield, and RAICo.
Inspection of hazardous, and hard-to-access assets is a major component of site safety, costs, and programme delay across the nuclear estate. Through two sequential projects funded by Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Collaboration (RAICo), a robotic remote inspection system for service trench inspection was developed, combining immersive VR operation, 3D reconstruction, and deployment of ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation. Phase 2 will conclude with a RAICo/Sellafield-supported deployment, achieving Technology Readiness Level 5 for this application.
This Acorn Project Translation proposal builds on that achievement and addresses the remaining barrier to impact: generalisation and operational uptake. The project will adapt the proven trench inspection capability into an adaptable robotic inspection platform, suitable for multiple hazardous asset inspections, including confined spaces and elevated-height structures such as roofs, where robotic deployment offers safety and cost advantages over human access.
Translation activities will focus on creating a robust and modular system. This system shall be capable of being reliably deployed across various inspection tasks, and asset types. In collaboration with FIS360, who will facilitate deployment planning and support with stakeholder engagement, the project will deliver at least one deployment at Sellafield. This will provide industrial validation of a site-ready robotic inspection capability with a route to exploitation across the nuclear sector, maximising the return on prior RAICo investment.
