Research groups from five UK universities will be working together under a newly awarded £4m grant to hatch "human-robotics hybrid solutions" to cut the cost of operation and maintenance (O&M) of offshore wind farms.

The Holistic Operation and Maintenance for Energy from Offshore Wind Farms (Home-Offshore) team, which will include scientists and engineers from Manchester, Warwick, Cranfield, Durham and Heriot-Watt universities, will focus on remote inspection and repair of underwater power cables using autonomous robot systems.

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