A few years ago, two men met to discuss an idea they’d had for a tidal energy project. The idea called for an array of tunnels, rather than the more traditional lagoons. But essentially as the tide comes in and goes out, you can draw the energy off it.

It was a fantastic idea, but there was one tiny detail standing in the way of the project. The tunnels. The men were told that, even though they needed identical tunnels in the hundreds, there was no cost saving per drive. 

All of a sudden, they had a new challenge on their desks. This episode is about the result. The hyperTunnel system, which builds the tunnel prior to excavation, and relies on swarms of robots to do the work of thousands.

Guests

Patrick Lane-Nott, Director of Engineering, hyperTunnel

Resources

For a video explaining the HyperTunnel process, click here