A Robotic Concept for Remote Inspection and Maintenance on Oil Platforms

Abstract

This paper presents a novel concept for remote inspection and maintenance operations on next generation normallyunmanned offshore oil platforms. The concept is presented through the design of a robotic lab facility for automated and teleoperated inspection and maintenance operations by robot manipulators -ranging from simple inspection tasks to advanced maintenance operations. The lab facility is built around two cooperating robot manipulators equipped with sensors measuring temperature, vibrations, gas concentration and sound, and that automatically changes between tools to operate valves, exchange batteries in wireless sensors and to manipulate objects and the integrated process equipment. A graphical interface allows users to start automated inspection rounds where sensor data are collected, analyzed and compared to normal operating conditions, and alarms are generated if deviations are detected. Users may also plan new operations in a virtual environment before executing them, or remotely control the robots through a number of control interfaces. Live video feeds and stereoscopic vision are available to aid the operator during remote operations. A model-based collision avoidance system ensures that both automated operations and unplanned operations are verified before and during execution, and ensures safe operation of the robots. The paper presents results from the lab facility to illustrate the functionality of the remote inspection and maintenance concept, and demonstrate how remote operators may start automatic inspection and maintenance operations, plan new operations in a virtual environment, or directly control the remote facility onshore.

A robotic concept for remote maintenance operations: A robust 3D object detection and pose estimation method and a novel robot tool

“…A model-based collisions detection system is used to ensure safe operations. Further details on the lab facility can be found in [20].…”

“…A novel remote I&M concept for offshore oil and gas platforms was presented in [20] as an alternative to traditional offshore platforms. The platform concept is based on separating the work area accessible by human operators, and a closed permanently unmanned area (PUA) that is only serviced by robots as in Fig.…”

Active camera control with obstacle avoidance for remote operations with industrial manipulators: Implementation and experimental results

“…A novel remote I&M concept for offshore oil and gas platforms was presented in [13] as an alternative to traditional offshore platforms. The platform concept is based on separating the work area accessible by human operators, and a closed permanently unmanned area (PUA) that is only serviced by robots.…”

“…Remote offshore I&M operations pose many significant challenges [15], [13], such as that onshore operators must be able to monitor and control I&M operations with a large range of level of detail. This requires new and versatile active monitoring possibilities which is a topic of this paper.…”

Opportunities and Challenges of Robotics and Automation in Offshore Oil & Gas Industry

“…In order to apply mobile robotics technologies in offshore environments, a number of challenges that do not exist in any other application area of mobile robots must be overcome [10]:…”