Burrowing robots could speed-up roll-out of high-speed fibre to the home

The Engineer | January 15, 2019

Researchers at Leeds University, led by Dr. Raul Fuentes, are developing burrowing robots that can sense the behavior of the ground around them, and the force they are applying to it, to allow them to move through the soil without disrupting anything above them.
The EPSRC-funded MOLE project, which is supported by BT and also includes civil engineering company Kier and the Universities of Birmingham and Sydney, could speed-up the roll-out of high-speed fibre to the home. Installing fibre to individual homes is a slow and expensive process, according to Fuentes. “The current technology means it cannot be done quickly or cost-effectively enough,” he said.

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