New swimming robot in development

21st April 2016 - 13:30 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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Statoil and Kongsberg Maritime have signed an agreement with Eelume to accelerate the development of a new snake-like swimming underwater unmanned vehicle (UUV) that can perform subsea inspection, repair and maintenance, Kongsberg announced on 19 April.

Eelume is working on a solution for underwater maintenance and inspection in the form of a swimming UUV that can perform light intervention and inspection jobs on the seabed. The robot has a snake-like form which allows it access to confined areas that are otherwise difficult to access with existing technology.

The system is being developed around a concept of operations that would see the robot installed permanently on the sea bed to perform on-demand and planned interventions and inspections. The solution will be able to be installed on both new and existing fields for jobs such as adjusting valves and chokes, cleaning and visual inspection.

Kongsberg Maritime will bring to the team its extensive experience and technology development within marine robotics and Statoil will provide access to real installations for testing and qualification.

Pål Liljebäck, chief technology officer, Eelume, said: ‘With our unique expertise in the field of snake robotics Eelume is the first company in the world to bring these amazing robots into an industrial setting. Now we take the step from academia and into the commercial world to secure our place in the new and exciting subsea intervention landscape.’

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