Robotic autonomous asset management: benefit/value-based business model creation

Research has shown that value generation is an important factor when it comes to driving technological change. It follows that business models as narratives of value generation and capture have an important part to play as the end goals in the change process. Research also suggests, however, that the understanding of when, why and how value accrues to stakeholders, and what value to create, appears to be lacking. This paper describes an objective and repeatable methodology for the identification of benefit- and value-generating opportunities that can be used to aid business model creation. The methodology is demonstrated for the generic business of infrastructure asset management and discussed in detail in the context of ‘Pipebots’, a current scientific research project into the introduction of robotic and autonomous systems to the asset management of buried water and sewage pipe networks in the UK. In conclusion, the paper proposes that the methodology opens the door to a future where radical change in a given infrastructure system can lead to value capture across the wider system of systems.