Page 46: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2020)

Autonomous Navigation & Vehicle Tooling

Robots in the Splash Zone

From their base deep within a former World War II U-boat pen, Norwegian out? t,

OceanTech, is developing a set of robot tools that cling to offshore structures in order to effect inspection, maintenance and repair, or IMR. Old submarine an- chorages are now subsea testing and training sites, but the North Sea is still the target. Hundreds of aging platforms and subsea structures require IMR that’s too costly, complex or hazardous for divers or remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs.

By William Stoichevski s he walks us through Dora wave-lashed splashzone. “We use it as a OceanTech’s prototype, all-electric

II, the original name of the kind of subsea workshop,” Schjetne says iCon inspection robot was tested for its

U-boat pen, OceanTech among the mostly dank recesses. ability to lower itself and its probes be-

ACEO, Berndt Schjetne, The former anchorages, from four to low the splashzone to effect subsea in- points to corners of the building stashed eight meters deep, are crammed with spections of … you name it: pipe, riser, with rental tools custom-built for a training platforms and testing equip- concrete or jacket. The iCon is the latest range of past clients: a lift palette for the ment. IMR tools are in increasing de- in a series of about ? ve OceanTech ac- serpentine ROV, Eelume; a large splash- mand, as offshore operators and their cess tools that are either joystick con- zone tool with its own crane for im- contractors look to extend ? eld life and trolled or semi-autonomous. mersing probes into a platform jacket’s increase oil recovery. This is where Crucially, OceanTech’s splash zone

Subsea test cen- ter: in WWII as a

U-boat pen, and now as OceanTech’s subsea training, test and fabrication center.

January/February 2020

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