{"id":5208,"date":"2015-07-14T06:08:46","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T06:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=5208"},"modified":"2015-07-14T06:08:46","modified_gmt":"2015-07-14T06:08:46","slug":"robots-under-test-for-oil-and-gas-rig-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/robots-under-test-for-oil-and-gas-rig-duty\/","title":{"rendered":"Robots Under Test For Oil And Gas Rig Duty"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The five competitors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A robot building on ESA\u2019s ExoMars rover is bidding to win a place on oil and gas production rigs around the world, to work in remote and hazardous environments.<\/span><\/p>\n

This robot, developed by a team led by Spain\u2019s GMV, is competing in the Total oil and gas company\u2019s Autonomous Robot for Gas and Oil Sites (Argos) Challenge. The three-year competition is encouraging the creation of robots to work on hydrocarbon production sites in extreme conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Total envisages that autonomous robots will in future strengthen operators’ safety by performing routine, repetitive tasks such as inspections, as well as detecting anomalies, alerting operators and intervening in emergencies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Foxiris<\/a>
Foxiris robot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

GMV\u2019s Foxiris consortium was one of five teams chosen in 2014 as a competitor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the robot to be able to move anywhere on a production facility that a human can go today,\u201d explained Kris Kydd, Total\u2019s Argos project manager from the company’s\u00a0Exploration & Production R&D Department.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen, using artificial intelligence, we want the robots to be able to read and record the values on the instrumentation, and to know autonomously whether they are normal or not. If there is an abnormal situation, the robot has to alert the remote operator.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The robots must pass three sets of tests at a plant in Lacq, France, the first of which took place in June. The gas dehydration unit features stairs, narrow walkways and obstacles typical of those found in production plants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the first set of five days\u2019 intensive and challenging tests, the Argos jury commented, \u201cFoxiris distinguished itself by its exceptional endurance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Foxiris robot is based on a commercially available design from GMV\u2019s partner IdMind. GMV is using its knowledge of mobile space platforms to develop the end-to-end control and operation software. The third partner is the robotics academic centre at Universidad Polit\u00e9cnica do Madrid.<\/span><\/p>\n

Foxiris carries internal navigation sensors and scientific instruments including cameras, thermal imagers, gas sensors and microphones. These allow it to inspect and monitor pressure dials, valves and level gauges, detect hot surfaces, sound alarms and localise gas leaks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Assisting humans in harsh environment<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Argos requires that the robots can operate in extreme climates, including severe cold and heat, heavy rain, high winds and sea spray.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo enable rovers to work in space we are clearly tackling harsh environments and the oil and gas production market is, by definition, harsh,\u201d said Alberto Medina, Head of Robotics Section at GMV.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnything which is very harsh and difficult for humans to reach is where we will apply the technologies we have developed initially for space.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is important here is human safety. When, for example, you need to check a valve but there are very high winds, then it is much better to send a robot than a human,\u201d said Luis Mollinedo, GMV\u2019s Foxiris Technical Leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is also safer to send in a robot where there is a suspected leak of methane or butane.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The robots must comply with European and international safety standards and be able to withstand acidic gases because they will be working in potentially hazardous environments.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

From space to terrestrial challenges<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Foxiris (Flipper-based Oil & Gas ATEX Intelligent Robotics System) builds on GMV\u2019s decades of work in the space industry. The company is working on the Rover Operations Control Centre for ExoMars, which is due to be launched in 2018. It has also developed expertise in remote communications protocols through working on ESA\u2019s Meteron.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, the company has worked on the Eurobot Ground Prototype, the Rover Autonomy Testbed, which is being used to study teleoperations, and Goal-Oriented Autonomous Controller, for which it is developing planning and scheduling techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\u201cThe technology developed for Mars rovers allows systems to manage themselves in a challenging environment but working on very simple principles,\u201d explained Gianfranco Visentin, Head of ESA\u2019s Automation and Robotics Section.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to give such a rover very detailed instructions. You can simply provide a map of the plant to the rover and tell it what kind of routes it needs to take, how to behave if it finds things which are not supposed to be there, how to cope with uncertainty, and so on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s vital that Foxiris acts autonomously for certain functions, such as deciding whether to raise an alert.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cSuch autonomy is vital for our space missions but historically has not been interesting for activities on Earth because why would you waste your time making a robot autonomous when humans nearby can control it?\u201d said Gianfranco.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow, though, the approach we have developed has turned out to be interesting for terrestrial applications.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Leading-edge space technologies<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the crucial advantages that GMV and their partners have is their extensive experience in advanced space robotics,\u201d said Richard Seddon from Tecnalia, the Spanish broker in ESA\u2019s Technology Transfer Programme Network, which helps industry in using technologies developed for space programmes to improve terrestrial applications.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThey can propose innovations building on technologies and expertise developed to cope with extreme space environments that are also applicable to certain hazardous situations on Earth, such as firefighting, nuclear plants and the oil and gas industry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For GMV, robotics is the latest of several terrestrial markets to emerge from its space activities for ESA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRobotics could seem like old technology,\u201d admitted Miguel \u00c1ngel Mart\u00ednez Olag\u00fce, GMV\u2019s Chief Business Development and Marketing Officer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, when you talk about autonomous or intelligent robotics \u2013 robots that are capable of recognising their situation and making decisions \u2013 then it\u2019s really in its infancy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The five teams now have nine months to improve their performance before the second round, due in March 2016, which will be decisive for the final classification.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A robot building on ESA\u2019s ExoMars rover is bidding to win a place on oil and gas production rigs around the world, to work in remote and hazardous environments. This robot, developed by a team led by Spain\u2019s GMV, is competing in the Total oil and gas company\u2019s Autonomous Robot for Gas and Oil Sites […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",625,213,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1-300x102.jpg",300,102,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",625,213,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",625,213,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",625,213,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",625,213,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",625,213,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",625,213,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",600,204,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",600,204,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",625,213,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",550,187,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",95,32,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",625,213,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",96,33,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/The_five_competitors_large-1.jpg",150,51,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Innovation<\/a>","tag_info":"Innovation","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}