autonomous underwater vehicles

Verlume and consortium partners are working to advance the development of a robotic fish designed for efficient offshore inspection.

Given the rapidly rising investments in robotics and drones, why is the SPE Unmanned Systems Technical Section struggling to find volunteers willing to form a new board and keep the rest of the Production and Facility Community up to date on the opportunities and challenges in applying these new tools in the field or at construction sites?

Fugro and SEA-KIT’s partnership will develop unmanned vessels, while HII and Kongsberg will market naval and maritime products.

Sensors, robots, and artificial intelligence have made their way into a number of areas within the industry, including pipeline inspections. Shell has begun to examine the innovative technologies that could shift the inspection paradigm.

The subsea operations company said its most recent campaign is the first fully unmanned offshore pipeline inspection completed “over the horizon,” surveying up to 100 km from the shore.

Robots may not be ready to take over the world just yet, but they are making great strides in the offshore industry. A technical session at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference presented some of the advances, including untethered ROVs and subsea broadband communications.

Scientists at the National Oceanographic Centre have released a review of how marine robotic capabilities can support the environmental monitoring needed for decommissioning oil and gas installations.

Saipem is taking the lead in advancing the capabilities of FlatFish, an autonomous underwater vehicle being developed by Shell for commercial application by 2020.

Subsea inspection/repair/maintenance services have traditionally relied on vessel-based, ROV, or diver operations. In the longer term, identifying significant incremental savings in these operations is not sustainable and an innovative approach deploying digital technologies is being investigated.

ROVs dominate the world of subsea inspections, maintenance, and repair, but as operators work in a post-downturn economy, autonomous systems have become more in demand. Autonomous inspections are possible today, but how can they help with light and heavy intervention?