The upstream oil and gas sector has entered a new phase of automation. The robots are here, and they’re here to stay.
While the industry’s digital transformation has centered mostly on supervisory control and data acquisition, distributed control systems, and predictive analytics, robotics has emerged as a physical extension of these digital capabilities, enabling inspection and intervention that had depended on manual labor.
“They can go into places that you really wouldn’t want to send people,” said Ian Peerless, the founder and director of ExRobotics.
Far from the humanoid machines popularized by Hollywood, the new generation of industrial robotics includes drones, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), and pipe-crawling inspection systems, all boosted by the inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI).
“Robots exist and can be used now. They’re not science fiction,” Peerless said. “They are being used in the real world.”
Amid the digital transformation in the energy sector, robotics has become a fast-growing investment.
