Initial on-site testing and demonstration of the Vega platform has been carried out in March 2020. DSRL had enough confidence in the Vega platform at this stage that on-site trials in a low activity environment could be performed, as opposed to limiting trials to mock-up conditions as would be normal practice. The robot was deployed into an active waste store and created a geometric map with radiometric information, the gamma dose rate, overlaid onto it. Before returning to Dounreay we are developing the Vega further by integrating several radiometric detectors onto it.

“Collaboration with Dounreay has been a huge success for us,” said RAIN Director Barry Lennox. “Excellent communication has been pivotal to this success. Clear specification of Dounreay’s needs helped us develop our technologies to meet their challenges.”

In addition to the fantastic communication from DSRL, working with Innovation 2 Commercialisation (I2C) has been pivotal to the success of this project. I2C is highly experienced at facilitating the relationship between technology developer and challenge owner to commercialise innovative technology into nuclear environments. Ice-9, a University of Manchester spin-out company with expertise in developing robotic systems for use in nuclear environments, is also supporting the technological development.