Statoil and Kongsberg Maritime have signed an agreement with a Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) spin-off company, and developed a swimming robot called Eelume.
The serpent-like robot can swim by itself and developers expect that it will play an important role in reducing the cost of maintaining undersea equipment and reduce the need for large underwater vessels.
"Eelume robots will be permanently installed on the seabed and will perform planned and on-demand inspections and interventions. The solution can be installed on both existing and new fields where typical jobs include; visual inspection, cleaning, and adjusting valves and chokes. These jobs account for a large part of the total subsea inspection and intervention spend," says Kongsberg.
Pål Liljebäck, the chief technical officer of Eelume, says that they have unique expertise in snake robotics and the company is the first to bring a snake-like robot to an industrial setting.
Developers of Eelume suggest that it will not only enable operators to reduce cost of undersea maintenance significantly, but also offer an easy way of conducting regular task. The slender design and flexibility of these robots helps them to reach tight and restricted undersea spaces instantly whenever needed.
Elisabeth Birkeland Kvalheim, chief technology officer of Statoil, suggests that Eelume is an excellent example of how innovation and new technology can work together for reducing costs. According to the Eelume website, the existing subsea infrastructure is aging and the demand for maintenance will increase in the near term. The website also indicates that subsea costs have increased by three-folds since 2005.
New installation can be complex and at the same time it can be very expensive, which is concerning for operators. Eelume can come to the rescue of these operators trying to replace existing undersea infrastructure.
Although, Eelume can potentially be of great use for undersea maintenance, the developers have not revealed a lot about the swimming snake robot. Some important questions such as powering these robots, the range of each charge and more remain unanswered. Operators will want to know the full details, including limitations of the robot before they are deployed to the seabeds.
Check out a short video of the swimming snake robot in action.
