Robot News

 

'World First' Autonomous Offshore Robot

Nov 01, 2018

Equipped with a customized sensorhead, a four-legged robotic platform ANYmal autonomously performed various inspection tasks of the platform in a one-week pilot installation, making it the world’s first autonomous offshore robot.Last month,…

Seafloor Crawling Robotics: New Tools for Challenging Missions

Sep 26, 2018

Back to the seaIt is widely said that life started in the ocean, and gradually moved on to land. In the case of tracked robots this trend is reversed. During the early 2000s, driven by significant defense demands, compact ground robots developed rapidly…

In US Gulf, Robots, Drones Take on Dangerous Offshore Oil Work

May 03, 2018

At BP's massive Thunder Horse oil platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, a dog-sized robot called Maggie uses magnetic tracks to creep along pipes connecting the giant oil facility to the sea floor. Before MaggHD, dubbed 'Maggie' by BP, the dangerous inspection…

Rise of the robot in offshore operations

Jan 10, 2018

2017 became the year that the oil and gas industry embraced robotics. Elaine Maslin reports on initiatives in the North Sea (first published in the January 2018 OE, access the full issue here). While the industry has long been using autonomous underwater systems and remotely operated tooling…

UK offshore robotics center launched

Nov 08, 2017

A new research centre focused on robotics for the offshore industry is to be set up in the UK with nearly US$19 million (£14.3 million) UK Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) funding.  The Offshore Robotics for Certification of…

GE inks partnership for robotic subsea inspection

Oct 26, 2017

Avitas Systems, a GE Venture, announced today (26 October) that it has formed a strategic partnership with Kraken Robotics to integrate autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), acoustic and laser sensor technology, and artificial intelligence…

£2 million pot for small pools and asset integrity robots

Jun 05, 2017

Two new Calls for Ideas have been launched to identify, support and fund robotics-based solutions to reduce inspection costs, and to unlock marginal resources on UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). Some ca.£1 million in funding is available for each area from the the Aberdeen-based…

Argonauts win Total's robot race

May 19, 2017

Team Argonauts has won French super-major Total's robot challenge Argos (Autonomous Robot for Gas and Oil Sites).  The third and final round of the challenge, held in Lacq, France, saw five teams pitch their robotic creations against a string of tasks on a mock-platform site…

The robot race

May 01, 2017

A competition to develop an offshore autonomous robot has helped iron out some of the issues that will need resolving to take this technology offshore. Elaine Maslin reports. Foxiris in action…

E-luminating the deeps

May 01, 2017

Eelume has made a splash with its snake-like underwater robot, despite its lithe form not initially having been destined for a life subsea. Elaine Maslin sets out the detail. Eelume (a shortening of electric and luminaire…

Testing high-tech solutions for asset integrity

Apr 01, 2017

The impact of asset integrity is hard to quantify, but UK North Sea goals to tackle it, including using robots, are being made clear. Elaine Maslin reports. The P100 robot “snake arm” robot is due to be trialed in the North Sea this year…

Video: Eelume debuts snake-like underwater robot

Feb 15, 2017

In December 2016, the Norwegian underwater robotics company Eelume successfully built and demonstrated the world’s first snake-like underwater robot, constructed for offshore operations. Image from Eelume…

HHI to do the splits

Nov 16, 2016

South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) is following through with part of its improvement plan that will see the company split into four. Image from HHI. Under the company’s plan…

Batteries not included

Nov 01, 2016

The drill floor robot is no longer a vision, it’s a reality and it’s going to start operations offshore Norway next year. Elaine Maslin reports. The world’s first drill floor robot installed at the Ullrigg Drilling and Well Centre…

Fleet of AUVs deployed off UK

Sep 23, 2016

A two-week mission involving 10 marine robots has commenced off northwest Scotland. The third in a series of demonstrator missions, this latest phase sees the largest fleet of marine robotic vehicles simultaneously deployed in UK waters…

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