The Offshore Ground Robots Industrial Pilot (2018/2020)

The OGRIP project, funded by Total and the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC), is the foundation of our Taurob Inspector robot described above. Within this phase, the former ARGOS robot (as well as our existing commercially available Taurob Trackers) were assessed for use within an operational Oil & Gas environment.

A Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) was undertaken to review the individual components and features on the robot and allow us to rank and prioritise areas of the robot that needed improving for operations in harsh environments. We focused development on a number of areas including, autonomy, inspection capability and increased robustness whilst ensuring that it continued to meet ATEX certification standards. Despite the upgrade in autonomy, the robot will still require human supervision to ensure that a remote emergency stop can be triggered in the event of an emergency, or work in a fenced off area.

After many tests on-site, the ATEX Zone 1 certified robots will now be operated for a 12-month period by Total at their Shetland Gas Plant. This will allow us to validate our technology and prove its effectiveness in an operational environment on a long term basis. Over this time span, the robot will also be improved and tested with some of our current R&D actions.