Robot automation in oil and gas facilities: Indoor and onsite demonstrations

Abstract

Given the importance and focus of the oil and gas industry related to safety, environmental impact, cost efficiency and increased production, the potential for more extensive use of automation in general, and robotic technology in particular, is evident. The specific role of robots in this context will be to perform various inspection and manipulation operations which human field operators perform today. In this paper, we initially present an overview of the current trends and challenges within the oil and gas industry. This is followed by the latest results from our work towards realizing next generation robotized oil and gas facilities. These activities encompass indoor lab experiments, as well as outdoor demonstrations onsite. The onsite demonstration reported in this paper has been completed together with Shell and comprises the world's first prototype of a robot performing automatic scraper handling in real operational environments.