The result of a £7 million transatlantic collaboration, the Robotic Roadworks and Excavation System, or RRES, was put through its paces before industry stakeholders ahead of a trial in Epsom, Surrey.
The product of a partnership between SGN – which manages a natural and green gas network serving some 5.9 million homes and businesses across the south of England and Scotland – and New York-based robotics experts ULC Technologies, the Robotic Roadworks and Excavation System, or RRES, was revealed following three years of development and funding from Ofgem.
The all-electric autonomous innovation capable of carrying out an entire end-to-end excavation has been developed in a bid to revolutionise the way in which an estimated annual 2.5 million roadworks are carried out in the UK and reduce both physical and carbon footprints of utility excavations.