A UK Government funded telexistence competition is seeking innovative ideas that integrate telepresence, robotic and haptic technology.

The competition has been launched to investigate tech for defence and security. It is a joint initiative between the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL).

The Telexistence programme aims to “develop and demonstrate” innovative tech and solutions to allow a human operator to perform complex tasks and operate equipment from a safe distance.

Around £1.3 million in funding is on offer as part of the cross-industry competition which is looking to start at the beginning of July 2022 and complete before the end of April 2023.

Now in its second phase, applicants to the competition can submit proposals that could be awarded up to £400,000 each. It will be open to applicants from the first round and it is not compulsory to have been involved in the previous DASA competition to apply, organisers have said.

A telexistence technology system allows a human user to operate in environments without physically being there. This would be useful for tasks that may put workers in danger.

This could be achieved by using a real-time, remotely operated avatar which relies on the integration of three different main technologies; telepresence; haptic feedback and robotics.

Telepresence is a visual-audio solution which lets an operator experience the sensation of self-presence in a remote environment. Haptic feedback transmits sensory information from the remote environment to the human operative, and robotics allows the human operator to physically interact with the remote environment from a safe distance.

As part of the competition rules, these three focus areas have been set and must be included in entry proposals.

Entrants will then be asked to focus on one case theme in which to apply their technology, including Specialist Nuclear Decommissioning Tasks, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Defence and Security Medical applications.

Those who make it through to the next stage will have to develop and demonstrate their proposals.

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Commenting on the announcement, Andrew Gray, Innovation Delivery Manager at the NDA, said: “We’re excited to be working alongside DASA on the Telexistence phase 2 competition and building on the great results from phase 1.

“Advancing these technologies and our knowledge of what is possible through the Telexistence competition will help us deliver our decommissioning mission in different ways while ensuring humans are away from harm.

“We’re looking forward to seeing what creative solutions are put forward by the supply chain.”

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