Due to the difficult working conditions in the offshore sector, autonomous operation has long been an aspiration of the oil and gas industry. This can also be applied to offshore wind projects. Energy companies are investing in the use of robots in these facilities to enable unmanned operation over long periods of time, reduce the risk to employees, increase safety, attract young talent to new technologies and further reduce capex and opex.

For a decade, Total Energies has been investing in robots and remote operation - in particular in autonomous monitoring and inspection robots certified to the ATEX standard for explosive environments.

"Due to the remote and often harsh environments in which the offshore oil and gas industry operates, a strategic goal is to minimize the exposure of workers on these platforms," explains Matt Graves, Director at Kalypso, a Rockwell Automation company. "Over the years, this has been achieved by improving the design and automation of the equipment. However, there are still tasks that need to be performed manually and many of these require operator observation. For the past five years, Total Energies has been investigating the use of ground robots to take over some of these manual tasks. The next step was to develop a control system that would allow these robots to be operated remotely. That's why the energy company turned to Kalypso."

Total Energies is working with Kalypso and other partners on the introduction of a Robotic Supervision System (RSS). This enables users to monitor and coordinate the robots using IoT technology from any location, for example in a control room on land. The robots autonomously carry out the various activities that users would otherwise perform on conventional systems on site. These include regular inspection and maintenance tasks as well as emergency measures.

Create an interface

The challenge was to create an interface between the robots and the existing industrial systems and to display the data in a user-friendly interface. Kalypso used the Unity Game Engine from Unity Technologies. This real-time development platform and robust ecosystem forms the backbone of many of today's leading video games. In recent years, the industry has adopted this technology to create interactive digital content from 3D data and deliver it to various platforms such as mobile devices, computers, AR and VR devices. This solution combines the functionality of a digital twin with the mobility and synchronization of a gaming platform.

The resulting Robot Supervision System bundles the information provided by different types of robots and consolidates the HMI displays required for remote operators to work efficiently and effectively.

"These tests are crucial in this initial phase of the project so that we can understand all the operational aspects of using the robots for inspection purposes and anticipate further potential for maintenance and operation," says Grégoire Audouin, system architect in the robotics R&D department at TotalEnergies. "The main advantage for users is that they can control the robots remotely and have a comprehensive overview from a central control room. There is huge potential for innovation in our industry."

The aim of the collaboration is to create the plants of the future and ensure that they are more efficient, safer and more sustainable.