OTC OTC-OTC-24386-MS DORIS-Monitoring Robot for Offshore Facilities

Safety and efficient operation are imperative factors t offshore production sites and a main concern to all Oil & Gas companies. A promising solution to improve both safety and efficiency is to increase the level of automation on the platforms by introducing intelligent robotic systems. Robots can execute a wide variety of tasks in offshore environments, incl uding monitoring and inspection, diagnosis and maintenance, proc ess production intervention, and cargo transport operations. In particular, considering the distance of offshore platfor ms from the Brazilian coast, such technology has great potential to increase safety by decreasing the number of onboard personnel , simp ify logistics, and reduce operating costs of Brazili n facilities. The use of robots can also allow proactive int grity management and increase frequency and efficiency of platform inspection. DORIS is a research project which endeavors to design and implement a mobile robot for remote supervision, diagnosi s, and data acquisition on offshore facilities. The propos ed ystem is composed of a rail-guided mobile robot capable of carrying different sensors through the inspected environment. The robot can also analyze sensor data and identify anomalies, such a intruders, abandoned objects, smoke, fire, and liquid lea kage. The system is able to read valves and make machine ry diagnosis as well. To prove the viability of the proposed system, an initial prototype is developed using a Roomba robot with several onboard sensors and preliminary tests have been performed in a real environment similar to an offshore platform. The te sts show that the robot is capable of indicating the presence or absence o f objects in a video stream and mapping the local area wit h laser sensor data during motion. A second prototype has been built to test the DORIS mechanical design. This prototype is us ed to test concepts related to motion on a rail with straight, cu rved, horizontal, and vertical sections. Initial results support the proposed mechanical concept and its functionalities.  During the last decade, several Oil & Gas companies, re sea ch groups, and academic communities have shown an increas ed interest in the use of robotic systems for operation o f offshore facilities. Recent studies project a substant ial decrease in the level of human operation and an increase in automation used o n future offshore oil fields (Skourup and Pretlove, 2009). Today, robotic systems are used mainly for subsea tasks, s uch a mapping the seabed and performing inspection tasks on underwater equipment, risers, or pipelines using Remotely O perated Vehicles (ROVs) or Autonomous Underwater Vehicle s (AUVs). Topside operations, on the other hand, have not yet ado pted robotized automation as a solution to inspection and operation tasks. From (2010) points out the potential increase in efficiency and productivity with robot operators rather than humans, give n that robots work 24 hours per day and 7 days per week, ar less prone to errors, and are more reliable. Another hi ghlighted point is the improvement Health, Safety, and Environment ( HSE) conditions, as robots can replace humans in tasks perf orm d in unhealthy, hazardous, or confined areas. In the specific Brazilian case, the Oil & Gas industry is growing at a high pace, mainly due to the recent discove ries of big oil fields in the pre-salt layer off the Brazilian coast. These oil reservoirs are located farther than 300 km f ro the shore and at depths of 5000 to 7000 km. These factors, especially the la rg distances, motivate the development of an offshore produ cti n system with a high degree of automation based on advanced roboti cs systems.