An underwater inspection and maintenance robot for ships and offshore infrastructure

A UK company has developed and validated a robotic platform crawling complex underwater objects such as ship hulls, turbine foundations etc. It carries built-in and optional tools for weld inspections, monitoring, water jetting, maintenance etc. Businesses and departments doing inspection and maintenance jobs in oil and gas, wind and ship care sectors are sought for commercial agreements with technical assistance.

One of the leading technology and innovation companies in the UK has developed a new robotic underwater platform (see the Pictures). It targets oil & gas, offshore and ship care sectors. Inspection, monitoring and maintenance in these sectors is currently handled using divers. It is a complex and time-consuming operation. Robots have not been up to the job until now because of the complexity and curvature of underwater structures (and ship hulls). The new robot successfully crawls on curved surfaces such as ships. At up to 50 mm/s it either monitors the surface with its HD camera and lighting system, carries out non-destructive testing (NDT) or does something different. The platform can take on a 25 kg load of specific equipment. It specifically has the capability to clean and inspect steel monopile foundations of wind turbines. The NDT methods termed UT (Ultrasonic Thickness) thickness, Eddy current and TOFD (Time of Flight Diffraction) UT measure wall thickness and detect weld defects. Depending on requirements, it can operate both internally and externally and is rated to 60m depth of operation. It is equipped with a water jet cleaning system to remove surface layer marine biofouling and can be deployed as a 2-person crew. It has been extensively tested and validated under different conditions. The company is seeking inspection and maintenance companies in the sectors of energy, renewables and shipping, for commercial agreements with technical assistance.