Multi-purpose dexterity tele-operation robot for remote working and healthcare

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The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique challenge for society and industry; how to protect lives, open up the economy and ensure a functioning healthcare sector whilst social distancing and restrictions on travel remain. These challenges come in the form of a potential significant drop in GDP, threats to UK infrastructure due to lack of in-situ professionals for critical inspection and maintenance tasks, difficulties maintaining social distance in physical work environments and staff shortage due to self-isolating healthcare professionals.Extend Robotics' (ER) aim is to develop, scale and commercialize a cloud-based, teleoperated, highly dexterous robotic system which will extend remote working into the physical domain. The system will offer a highly effective universal solution at an affordable price point allowing massive adoption across a wide range of sectors during the crisis. This will result in improved safety and operating efficiencies that will be carried forward into normal operations.ER's remotely operated robotic system offers:* USER HARDWEAR - Low-cost scalable solution, using consumer Virtual Reality (VR) equipment.* USER INTERFACE - Intuitive and immersive user interface for non-expert users to operate offering "real world" experience.* ROBOTIC MANIPULATOR - Dexterous (6 degrees of movement) and robust teleoperation by augmenting human intelligence.* REMOTE WORKING - Users can operate from home over internet cloud servers.The aim of the system is to aid the user and augment human capability, not replace human interaction. This is critical in maintaining efficient working practices. The current concept prototype garnered interest in the telecom infrastructure maintenance sector with an ongoing development plan which lead to seed funding in April 2020\. The management team has strong connections with the utility and telecommunications sector, but many other use cases exist such as:* Allowing immunosuppressed healthcare professionals to remotely perform tasks from home preventing contamination.* Self-isolating inspection and maintenance professionals providing "hands-on expertise" to critical infrastructure sites.This grant will be used to improve the core technology, seek trials and business cases in the healthcare sector; a case study that will drive a larger scale implementation a for mass production system in multiple applications.