10168894Remotely operated multirole work platformClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKScafffloat is an ambitious, high growth potential Cornish SME, specialising in bespoke, often self-propelled, floating access systems to complex marine engineering and marine civils contractors. Our business and reputation has been built around 2 multi award winning innovative products - workfloat and scafffloat - but we have a number of additional innovations in development, conceived in response to demonstrable industry need. This project will focus on bringing to market a cost effective, uncrewed platform that can increase the safety of operators on more challenging jobs, such as retrieval of unexploded ordnance. The ambitious idea behind this proposal is very much aligned to the marine autonomy strand of this funding call; we aim to build a specially configured version of a scafffloat arranged such that, by varying thrust across multiple engines, the platform heading and position can be maintained during operations, either by manual direction or by an automated system analogous to dynamic positioning first pioneered on large ships used in specialist drilling and diving operations. We also envisage the platform being able to be driven remotely by a skipper, or set to follow a pre-planned track from way point to waypoint without direct human intervention. While the constituent parts of this project are based on technology which already exist in other forms, such as large dynamic position capable ships, and small autonomous craft that are designed for a very limited range of operations and optimised for those tasks, there is no comparable existing vessel or platform that has the capability we are proposing to develop i.e.: configurable in size, shape, deck and lifting capacity for a specific job or contract, outboard engine driven, uncrewed and remotely controllable. This project is scoped for proof of concept, and will provide the data required to evaluate the feasibility of taking this planned new product/capability to commercialisation and open a new line of revenue potential. While this remains a self contained R&D project, it will inform the further experimental design required to push further down the path to commercialisation.