Sector: Robotics, nuclear, extreme environments
Capability: Remote handling robotics, haptic telemanipulation, digital twins
Remote handling robotics lets people do dangerous, delicate work without going near the danger. This is the story of one such system. Our team helped develop a robot that puts a skilled operator’s hands where no human could survive.
The challenge
Some of the most important work in the world happens where no person can safely go. Think of a fusion reactor. Or a damaged nuclear plant. In these places, radiation, heat and contamination would harm a human within minutes.
For decades, operators faced a hard choice. They could send people in behind heavy shielding, working against the clock. Alternatively, they could rely on rigid machines built for a single job. Neither option gave them what they needed most. In short, they wanted to work with their hands, with real feel and real precision, from somewhere safe.
The solution
So our team helped develop an advanced remote handling robotics system. It solves exactly that problem. A single operator can now carry out intricate, delicate tasks from up to eight kilometres away. Better still, the system needs no specialist training.
The technology first proved itself inside a major fusion research facility. There, it handled precision maintenance in one of the most demanding settings on earth. The team then rebuilt it around a few core ideas.
Above all, it puts haptics first, so the operator genuinely feels what the robot touches. The design also stays light enough for precise movement over long distances, yet strong enough for heavy work. Crucially, it runs in the highest radioactive environments. Its controls also scale force and compensate for weight. As a result, an operator can lift something heavy as if it were feather light. Equally, they can hold something fragile without crushing it. Meanwhile, a digital twin lets teams operate and train remotely, rehearsing a job before they touch the real thing. Finally, the mobile design carries the robot across difficult terrain rather than bolting it to one spot.
The impact
Since then, the same platform has proved itself across jobs once thought impossible to do remotely.
For example, in one of the world’s largest nuclear cleanup programmes, operators used it to investigate damaged reactors. They also retrieved radioactive debris from a safe distance. As a result, decommissioning became faster and far safer. Paired with artificial intelligence, the robot now sorts and segregates waste on its own. It still hands control back to a person the moment a task needs judgment. A national defence programme has adapted it too. The goal is to explore how people can work through a machine as if they were there in person.
The common thread is simple. Work that once put people at risk now happens safely and precisely from a distance. In many cases, the work could not be done at all before. This is remote handling robotics doing what it does best.
Why remote handling robotics matters for the innovators we back
This is the pedigree Hatch brings to the founders and teams we support. We have worked inside the hard part of robotics. In practice, that means taking a technology from a single proven use and turning it into a platform. Ours went on to cross sectors, from energy to defence to waste management.
That journey matters right now. The UK has the lowest robot density in the G7. In response, the government is building new Robotics Adoption Hubs to close the gap. As the International Federation of Robotics reports, countries like South Korea and Singapore race ahead for one reason. They turn strong technology into everyday adoption. That is the leap most robotics founders are trying to make. And it is where good support decides whether a clever prototype becomes a technology the world actually uses.
Building something for a demanding environment? Talk to us about turning it into a product the world can use.
