Global Drone Solutions is creating an Australian-first autonomous systems hub (ASH), which will allow it to deliver world-leading training in the development, implementation, and operation of autonomous robots in the mining and energy industries. ASH addresses the issue of having employees train in dirty and dangerous operations, reduces costs and risk and improves operational efficiency, by using aerial, terrestrial and subsea robots.

Across the country, organisations in every sector are grappling with how to best use automated technologies to generate a return on their investment.

Some who have embraced the technology for a particular task, such as asset inspections in a hazardous environment, have not received a return on investment they were hoping for.

In many cases, this is because the new technology means the robot is underused. This is especially true of aerial, terrestrial and subsea robots.

Companies often don’t have staff with the knowledge and skills needed to identify new applications and carry out the necessary programming. They may only have access to a few short videos on YouTube to familiarise themselves with a $100,000 terrestrial robot.

On top of this, it can cost an extra $50,000 to program a robot for a specific task, and a robot that can only carry out one task will not generate the desired ROI.

Global Drone Solutions is addressing this challenge for clients in the energy resources sector, who have turned to them for help.

In partnership with Murdoch University, South Metro TAFE, and industry leaders in the mining and energy sectors, Global Drone Solutions is creating an autonomous systems hub (ASH).

A first for Australia, ASH is a collaborative platform that will allow the company to deliver world-leading training in the development, implementation, and operation of autonomous robots for the mining and energy industries. It will be a structured pipeline for future leaders in research and innovation, with new training programs and resources for broader upskilling and reskilling in industry.

Research has shown that there are no other companies anywhere in Australia or globally delivering in-depth training in the operation of terrestrial or subsea robotics, such as Spot, the Boston Dynamics all-terrain robotic dog (https://www.bostondynamics.com/spot), and Eulume, the subsea robots (https://eelume.com).

In good news, Global Drone Solutions believes that robots will not reduce the number of jobs.

Instead, they will change the future of work through removing people from manual handling and dangerous jobs, and retraining them into roles involving programming, coding, developing algorithms, and managing and operating robots.

This will allow full utilisation of these expensive robots and improve return on investment for the industry in general. It will also lead to safer workplaces.

This training will complement Global Drone Solutions existing expertise in aerial robotics. The first course will be ready for industry by the end of the first quarter in 2022.