UK Researchers Developing Human-Robotics O&M System

Researchers from five UK universities have received a GBP 4 million grant to deliver a human-robotics hybrid solution for the maintenance and operation of offshore wind farms.

The consortium, the Holistic Operation and Maintenance for Energy from Offshore Wind Farms or HOME-Offshore, brings together experts from the universities of Manchester (project lead), Warwick, Cranfield, Durham and Heriot-Watt University.

The research grant includes a GBP 1 million industry contribution and GBP 3 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The researchers will use the grant to create remote inspection and repair technologies using robotics and autonomous systems. These will be used to inspect the condition of subsea power cables, identify problems early and ultimately, extend their lifespan.

“The UK government has set ambitious decarbonisation targets, increasing the present 5GW generated by offshore windfarms to 40GW by 2050,” Dr David Flynn, director of the Smart Systems Group (SSG) at Heriot-Watt University, said.

The costs of achieving these targets have, until now, focused on the capital outlay for wind turbines, but budgets have largely ignored the operation and maintenance of windfarm assets, including subsea cabling. By integrating technologies, such as autonomous underwater vehicles and advanced sonar technology, we will gain a new insight into the condition of these subsea assets. Currently 70% of cable failure modes cannot be monitored in-situ, inhibiting accurate health monitoring. This exciting and highly interdisciplinary project builds on our globally recognised expertise in embedded intelligence and robotics and autonomous systems.”