Dr Khuong An Nguyen has been awarded an Innovate UK grant for the project titled "TunnelGuard: A Ground-Air Robotic Safety Twin for HS2 Construction", in partnership with High Speed 2 (HS2).

High Speed 2 (HS2) is the UK's new rail network, which promised to transform travel and boost the economy. However, the programme has faced several challenges since 2019. One of the bottlenecks is that construction has not kept pace with planning across 350 sites, especially in long tunnels, where multiple teams must share the same constrained space.

This project will develop a robotic sensing system to improve safety and coordination in complex railway construction environments. The project combines ground robots and aerial drones to monitor active worksites, identify temporary hazards, check access constraints, and support safer handovers amongst teams.