Name: Underwater AI robots could keep UKs turbines spinning
Uploaded: 2024-11-19T10:40:04.100Z
Duration: 2 min 10 s
Description: An autonomous underwater robot, powered by AI and designed to adapt and react to rough seas in real-time, is being developed in the UK to help inspect and repair offshore wind farms.

An autonomous underwater robot, powered by AI and designed to adapt and react to rough seas in real-time, is being developed in the UK to help inspect and repair offshore wind farms.

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An AI-powered underwater robot is under development in the United Kingdom to inspect and repair offshore wind farms. The robot, part of the Underwater Intervention for Offshore Renewable Energies (UNITE) project, aims to address the nation's growing reliance on wind energy, with over 2,600 offshore turbines and plans to quadruple that number by the end of the decade. The UK government backs this $1.7 million initiative as part of its commitment to sustainable energy.

Routine maintenance on offshore wind turbines typically occurs three or more times annually; the robots aim to alleviate human involvement in these dangerous tasks and the shortage of labor to conduct regular inspections. The AI-based robot features 3D mapping to navigate complex turbine structures, providing high-precision operations in rough sea conditions. It is undergoing trials in Edinburgh.

The project's collaborators include institutions like the National Robotarium and Frontier Robots. David Morrison, a project manager at the National Robotarium, emphasized the shift towards reducing human exposure to high-risk environments. Jonathan Scharf-Villners, CEO of Frontier Robots, detailed the robot's AI capabilities, which enable it to autonomously map and manipulate its environment. If trials are successful, the robot could provide data insights significantly faster than current methods, reducing the turnaround time from three weeks to as little as three hours. Future developments include equipping robots with robotic arms, with further sea trials planned for 2025.



Underwater AI robots could keep UK's turbines spinning

This AI-powered underwater robot was designed to keep wind turbines moving in the U.K. Over 2,600 wind turbines are located offshore here. By 2030, the U.K. government wants to see that number quadruple. Each turbine typically requires a maintenance check three times a year, or more, as the turbines get older. That's where the autonomous underwater robots come in. Dubbed the Underwater Intervention for Offshore Renewable Energies, or UNITE project, they could enable high-precision operations even in turbulent sea conditions. David Morrison is a project manager at the National Robotarium, one of the project supporters. We're trying to move people from those dangerous situations, and also there's not enough people to do the kind of inspections or the frequency of inspections that are needed. So that's kind of the big problem that we're trying to solve here. The robots are currently undergoing trials in Edinburgh as part of the government-backed $1.7 million project. The robot's AI integrates 3D mapping technology, enabling it to create detailed underwater maps. This helps the robot navigate complex offshore structures and precisely identify components requiring maintenance. Jonathan Scharf-Villners is the CEO of Frontier Robots, a collaborator on the project. So our artificial intelligence is mainly a big autonomy engine that is analyzing the environment to see where should the robot go next to collect good data about the environment and how to autonomously navigate between these different places and also utilize the environment to its advantage. He said the fusion of sensor data helps the robot stay operational, even in the rough and murky waters of the North Sea. If successful, the system could deliver data insights in as little as three hours. That's a significant improvement from the current industry standard of three weeks. The engineers are now developing onboard robotic arms for the craft, with sea trials from industry partners expected in early 2025.

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Rise of AI