The United Kingdom has seen offshore wind energy as a sector where it can grow. In fact, it currently has 14.7 GW of installed capacity and its purpose is to increase that figure to 45 GW by 2030. Given such data, a group of researchers has thought about maintaining wind turbines through an autonomous robot.
UNITE project. Underwater Intervention for Marine Renewable Energy, this is the new initiative that is developing and testing autonomous underwater robots with Artificial Intelligence for the maintenance of offshore wind turbines in the United Kingdom.
The object of study is the need to reduce large maintenance vessels, make operations in offshore wind farms safer and reduce the carbon footprint associated with the maintenance of these facilities.
The project is in testing phase in Edinburgh and has been carried out by Heriot-Watt University, in collaboration with Imperial College London, Fugro and Frontier Robotics. It has also received support from the National Robotarium, where the tests are carried out. The study had a total cost of £1.4 million.
Machine learnig. Autonomous underwater robots have a control system based on machine-learning algorithms, which helps them adapt to changing sea conditions such as currents and strong waves. In addition, it will be able to solve problems arising from stability in dynamic environments, essential for tasks such as corrosion measurement.
3D mapping. The robots will also be able to create detailed 3D maps of their underwater environment thanks to semantic mapping technologies, improving navigation and identification of components that need maintenance.
Remote vehicles. The use of autonomous ships is a technology that has been in the military industry for a few years, but is already being implemented in more everyday companies. In addition, a Chinese company has created 2.0 lifeguards with autonomous boats with AI.
In this specific case, the UNITE project has been operated with the coordination of remote vehicles (ROV) and electric remote vehicles (eROV), deployed from unmanned ships. This can eliminate the need for traditional maintenance vessels.
Early 2025. Engineers hope to add robotic arms to the system, allowing it to expand its functions in maintenance, such as cleaning structures, performing visual inspections and repairing defects.
With the rise of offshore wind energy, researchers believe that mission fuel consumption could be reduced from 7,000 to 200 liters per day and data analysis would only take three days, compared to the current standard of three weeks. Guaranteeing efficiency and improvement work for the security of the infrastructure.
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