INTERVIEW: Kris Kydd, Head of Robotics, at Total E&P UK; Total’s “Stevie the Robot”
remaining technology gaps or areas where you see more advances can be made?During the early stages, we focused more on the safety aspects of the hardware (e.g specifying that the design had to be capable of working in a potentially explosive atmosphere – ATEX) rather than the safety aspects of the software. We worked with Saft, Total’s battery specialist affiliate, to meet this challenge. However, there is no point in specifying safety aspects for the hardware if you do not have the software equivalent. Assuring the safe behavior of an autonomous robot in a complex environment is of paramount
Bennett Joins Kraken Board
to add expertise to the Board and Cathy brings extensive operational and strategic leadership across a breadth of sectors. We are thrilled to be welcoming her perspective during our period of rapid growth.”Kraken Robotics is a marine technology company dedicated to the production and sale of software-centric sensors, subsea batteries and thrusters, and underwater robotic systems. The company is headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland with offices in Dartmouth, N.S.; Toronto, Ont.; Bremen and Rostock, Germany; and Boston, Mass.“I am excited to join Kraken as the market for marine
SRO Updates Stena Drilling's Rigs with IBM’s Maximo System
Offshore drilling contractor Stena Drilling has had its asset management software system on six offshore rigs replaced.The company hired UK-based tech firm SRO Solutions which, over the course of 14 months replaced its existing asset management system with IBM’s Maximo software. Six engineers from SRO carried out the work, and also delivered training on the rig fleet in the Canary Islands, Israel, Guyana, and Scapa Flow in Scotland.SRO operations director Andrew Carrie led the project which is the 20th major asset management system upgrade SRO has undertaken, using IBM’s Maximo
Case Study: Unmanned Tech Narrows Data Gap on Yellow River ... World’s "Most Sediment-laden River"
to stay on board for retracting operations. The lifting mechanism reduces the risk of equipment damage and better guarantees the safety of personnel.According to the real-time measured water depth and multi-beam span, the surveyor set up parallel survey lines and inspection lines with the base station software from the dock. The USV navigated according to the survey line instructions, and the collected data was sent back to the shore-based control terminal in real-time.Survey ResultThe ME120 USV was also equipped with a high-precision inertial navigation system, which provides strong support for the seamless
iXblue Equips Ifremer's New 6000m AUV
for Ocean Science, to equip its new 6,000-meter-rated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for the CORAL Project. The AUV will be equipped with synthetic aperture sonar (SAS), Sams-150, a Phins C7 Inertial Navigation System (INS), a sub-bottom profiler Echoes 5 000 and will use iXblue’s Delph Software suite for SAS and navigation post-processing.The “Constructive Offshore Robotics ALliance” CORAL project aims at developing, in an industrial alliance led by Ifremer, a deep sea AUV - Autonomous Underwater Vehicle- for seabed exploration down to 6,000-meter depths. The AUV is a newly
"An Epic Mission": Slocum Glider "Silbo" Circumnavigates the Atlantic Ocean
provided close to 5000 CTD casts that aided metalogical forecasting. With partners from Rutgers University and its student base, UVI, PLOCAN, UGCLP, the Marine Institute, and others, Silbo also participated in the Challenger glider mission. Silbo has been a test bed for many new engineering hardware and software features for both existing and next generation Slocum gliders. Recent legs have provided data on new battery configurations, advanced software, and techniques for piloting long endurance missions and minimizing biofouling. Silbo’s accomplishments have been critical in the glider community&rsq
SeeByte Appoints Haworth as CEO
SeeByte, developer of smart software solutions for unmanned maritime systems, announced the appointment of Dr. Chris Haworth as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective August 2020.Haworth has been promoted from his position of Commercial Director to become CEO of the company. He succeeds Dr. Bob Black, who will retire as CEO after 10 years in the role. Black will remain on the board as a non-executive director and strategic adviser. At the same time, Dr. Scott Reed has been promoted from his position as Engineering Director to become SeeByte’s new Chief Technology
CMRE Open Library is Open for Business
back as 1961. The communities and collections are easily searchable by subject, date, title or author.Some of the content has been available before in a variety of locations. Now the full collection has been consolidated and is available in one place. The CMRE Open Library uses the DSpace open source software solution familiar to many researchers, providing a familiar search interface either directly or through academic search engines such as Google Scholar.“The CMRE Open Library allows for better visibility of its publications and technical papers, and makes this vital knowledge available to all
Greensea Hires Green as Senior Robotics Engineer
Greensea, creator of OPENSEA, the open software architecture platform for the marine industry, recently added key personnel to its engineering team to support the development of its EOD technologies. Matt Green, Senior Robotics Engineer, is leading the technology development of Greensea’s EOD Workspace, a navigation, control, and user interface system for inspection class ROVs used in military subsea EOD mitigation.“We wanted a robotics engineer who would push the boundaries of what a small ROV is capable of in the EOD world. These ROVs require highly accurate navigation and control
