Maslin, Elaine
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Subsea Technology and the New Routes to Residency
Efforts to increase remote capability often go hand in hand with increasing ROV residency. But exactly what form residency takes is diverging. Elaine Maslin takes a look.Dial back the clock five years and there was a movement towards an idea dubbed subsea resident remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). The idea, in simple terms, is that you increase ROV availability and reduce cost and carbon emissions by having the vehicle permanently based subsea in underwater garages.
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Charting Terradepth's Big Ambitions in the Unmanned Vehicle Space
Ocean mapping at scale is the target of a new unmanned systems player started by two ex-US Navy SEALS. They have big ambitions, from new building unmanned vehicles to creating the intelligence that will drive them to changing how accessible ocean data is. Elaine Maslin learned more. The pace of change in the ocean mapping space has been fast in recent years. New entrants have come into the scene offering…
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R&D: Robotics Advances Inside the ORCA Hub
Many of the more advanced mechanics of robotic systems are being developed as part of the Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assets (ORCA) Hub in Edinburgh. It’s a publicly funded project led by the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics (Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh), in collaboration with Imperial College London and the Universities of Oxford and Liverpool. We spoke with some of their specialists.First of all, what is robotics?
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Robotics: Autobots Transform in the Offshore Energy Sector
Robots and robotics have slowly been entering our lives, in various shapes and forms (and fictional characters), from self-driving household vacuum cleaners to highly automated manufacturing systems. Now they’re heading for the offshore world – in just as many shapes and forms.There could be a lot to gain from robotics, but platforms and offshore wind turbine structures are also very challenging places to put them on. For oil and gas, key drivers are around safety and cost .
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INTERVIEW: Kris Kydd, Head of Robotics, at Total E&P UK; Total’s “Stevie the Robot”
Total has been working on robotics for some years now, having launched the Argos challenge in 2013 and now getting ready to put the Taurob designed Stevie robot through its paces in a trial at Shetland Gas Plant. We spoke with Kris Kydd, Head of Robotics, at Total E&P UK.What have been the main lessons learned to date around enabling these systems to operate in an offshore environment?Total believes that robots have a huge amount to offer to our industry.
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Autonomous ANTX: Seismic Survey Tech and Port Security
Geophysical seismic surveys and port security may appear to have little in-common. However, it turns out that managing complex marine seismic operations, where 10km-long seismic streamers have to be deployed harmoniously alongside other offshore marine assets, isn’t that dissimilar to managing – and protecting – port facilities.It's an area that ION Geophysical, more known for seismic data acquisition technology…
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Drill Rig Noise: Entering the Exclusion Zone, Quietly
Unmanned surface vessels continue to make in-roads into new applications and industries. An ability to gather data in otherwise inaccessible locations is both increasing knowledge about marine noise and confidence in marine autonomous systems in the oil and gas industry. Elaine Maslin reports.Offshore oil and gas exploration and production activities have been going on since the mid-20th century. But…
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Remotely Operated Vehicles: Thinking out of the Box
All electric systems are starting to free companies from the traditional strict form factors that ROVs traditionally take. With a more flexible modular harness, vehicles can be built from standardised building blocks. Saab Seaeye, a firm well versed in all-electric vehicles, has been making noises in this direction, using the smarts it’s been developing for the Sabertooth for new electric vehicles.Another firm looking to enter the resident vehicle space is UK-based subsea machinery firm SMD.
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MBARI Works at Unlocking Ocean Biology
Greater understanding of what goes on in the ocean is starting to become a reality – thanks to growing use of unmanned surface and underwater vehicles and developments in biological sensing. Elaine Maslin takes a look at what a team at MBARI has been doing.Gathering biological data from the oceans remains a significant challenge for oceanographers. Now, an increasing range of unmanned vehicles that are able to work together is becoming available…
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Ocean Infinity’s Hunt for the Submarine San Juan
The search for the Argentinian submarine was like hunting for the proverbial needle in a hay stack, except that it was a piece of straw. Elaine Maslin reports. At 7.19am, local time, on November 15, 2017, the last message was received from the San Juan submarine. She belonged to the Argentinian navy and was on a routine mission from Ushuaia in the Patagonia region to Mar del Plata in Buenos Aires province when she lost contact with the military.
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UUV Manipulators: Get a Grip
While much focus on resident subsea vehicles has been about the vehicles, there’s also been a lot of focus behind the scenes on creating electric tooling. The industry has relied on hydraulic tooling since tooling has been used, with the benefits and drawbacks that come with it. Leading the field has been Schilling Robotics, now a part of the TechnipFMC group. But, for electric vehicles to really make to most of being all-electric, they really need to be free of the burdens of hydraulic systems.
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Marine Autonomy Above & Below the Water
Marine autonomous systems and combinations of such systems are being increasingly put to the test in the offshore space. Elaine Maslin looks at how hybrid remote and autonomous systems are now being tested.Concepts like resident subsea vehicles, for inspection, repair and maintenance, are attractive options, but not the only ones being tried. Deploying remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) from unmanned surface vessels (USVs) are also being tested and put to use.
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@ SAMS, Science + Autonomy = Answers
Few sea and ocean-related research projects today do not involve some form of underwater robotic or marine autonomous system. Elaine Maslin reports on how they’re being used by the Scottish Association of Marine Science.Whether it’s large autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), gliders, landers, small man-portable AUV systems and even air-borne vehicles, unmanned systems have become a day-to-day tool.
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Uptick for Subsea Tree Installs Coming
Increasing activity, led by scaled down, accelerated projects and subsea tiebacks is helping drive an increasing business in the subsea industry. But there’s slim chance of revisiting the boom days of 2013, the Society of Underwater Technology’s annual Global Subsea Market Outlook Business Breakfast heard this morning.Henning Bjørvik, an analyst in the Oilfield Service team at Rystad Energy with a primary focus on the subsea market…
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Hybrid Autonomous Systems Evolve
Marine autonomous systems and combinations of such systems are being increasingly put to the test in the offshore space. Elaine Maslin looks at how hybrid remote and autonomous systems are now being tested.Concepts like resident subsea vehicles, for inspection, repair and maintenance, are attractive options, but not the only ones being tried. Deploying remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) from unmanned surface vessels (USVs) are also being tested and put to use.
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Subsea Tech's 'March of Miniaturization'
A growing battalion of small, compact systems is marching in on the subsea world, in some ways making it a bigger space for more to enter. Elaine Maslin reports.Smaller remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and smaller autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are growing in number and in turn driving smaller technologies that support them. The result is a few new kids on the block and what you could call…
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A Seismic Shift Towards Quieter Surveys
Since the earliest days of offshore oil and gas exploration, the need to “shoot” seismic surveys has been helping companies to find the hydrocarbons they can then produce.Seismic data helps geophysicists and geologists understand the rock formations in the earth, what might be happening in them and, crucially, if they might contain oil and gas. Similar to acquiring seismic data onshore, it means emitting…
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It’s Only Just the Start for Subsea Drones
The starting gun on a subsea space race has now officially been fired with the first ever award of a contract that includes services from a subsea resident drone.But, what is less known is that the award, made by Equinor to Saipem for operations on the Njord field, was made at what was the largest gathering of resident robotic systems ever assembled to date. Subsea drone vendors attended the event…
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MTR100: Five "Ones to Watch"
For Marine Technology Reporter's (MTR) 14th Annual "MTR100" - a look at 100 innovators and technologies in the subsea space - MTR editor-at-large Elaine Maslin reports on five companies and technologies that are worth the watch for the remainder of 2019 and beyond. For the full edition, see https://magazines.marinelink.com/nwm/MarineTechnology/201907/Blue Logic: Entering a new eraCompletely new modes…
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Seaspace Race Underway at Saab Subsea Docking Demo
A subsea space race is now officially underway in the offshore oil and gas industry following successful trials of docking and inspection operations using a commercially available underwater vehicle and Norwegian energy firm Equinor’s open-standard subsea docking station (SDS).The trials, witnessed by a crowd of leading players in the subsea resident remotely operated vehicle (ROV) or autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and hybrid space…
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