Market Intelligence
Defense Equipment United Kingdom

United Kingdom Ministry of Defence Needs Help in Designing a Telexistence System

On behalf of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the MOD is looking for suppliers to develop a complete telexistence system.  This will involve the integration of telepresence, robotic and haptic technologies on to a single platform.  

Telexistence is a technology that allows a human operator to project into a different environment, experiencing and interacting with the environment as if physically there, and keeping the ‘human in the loop’.  This is achieved using a remotely operated system, and relies on the integration of:

  • Telepresence, which enables the operator to see and hear as though in the remote environment;
  • Robotics/wearable assistive technologies, which enable the operator to interact with the remote environment; and
  • Haptic feedback/sensors, which enable the operator to touch/feel the remote environment.

Telexistence offers several potential benefits which can be broadly categorized as strategies to reduce the risk to personnel and/or strategies to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of operations.  In addition to reducing risk, telexistence has the potential to reduce the logistical burden and increase the speed at which operators can be deployed.  This would offer advantages particularly where there are a limited number of operators. 

The MOD will invite suppliers with successful proposals to evaluate the capabilities of their systems against a series of tasks that are representative of a Use Case chosen by each supplier from the following: Specialist Nuclear Decommissioning Tasks, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, or Defense and Security Medical applications. 

To facilitate this telexistence project, the MOD has designed a short survey to collect details from those suppliers who wish to explore working with the MOD on this project.  The MOD is supportive of collaboration between suppliers and organizations for this telexistence project.  If you are interested in collaboration with the MOD on this project, or on other opportunities in the UK defense and security sectors, please contact PJ Menner at the U.S. Embassy London at PJ.Menner@trade.gov.

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