A hi-tech consortium led by Filton-based OC Robotics has secured £5.8m to develop ‘LaserSnake’ – a robot-controlled laser cutting tool that can be used to decommission nuclear structures.
The investment is co-funded by the Technology Strategy Board (£4m), DECC (£1m) and the NDA (£1m).
The LaserSnake combines robot technology with a laser cutting head that was adapted for nuclear use by Cambridge-based TWI, supported by £1m of funding from the NDA.
The investment is funding the development of long-reach snake-arm robots for use in hazardous and confined spaces, in the air and under water and the combination of snake-arms and mobile robots to create a mobile platform for exploration of complex spaces.
It will also help the development of laser-cutting optics for safe, remote cutting in air and in water, particularly focused on nuclear decommissioning and consideration of the regulatory and certification issues associated with tele-operated delivery of laser cutting solutions for the nuclear sector.
The technology has huge potential outside of the nuclear sector – for instance, inspection and maintenance of high value assets in the oil & gas and construction sectors, and working within confined spaces such as aircraft wings for assembly and maintenance. For this reason the research will focus on the underlying technical challenges including software control, electronics, process development, and mechanism design. The project will conclude with onsite demonstrations.
The success of the project will be measured both in terms of progress made towards developing a tool kit for the nuclear sector and also the exploraton of non-nuclear markets.
