“The robots are coming!” We have heard that one before, right? But now they are actually here, and it is not science fiction. It did indeed take some time from the word “robot” and human-looking machines first appeared in the Czech play R.U.R (Rossumov’s Universal Robots) in 1920 to today’s use of actual robots at our onshore and offshore plants. One hundred years later, Equinor has established a project to work with and accelerate the introduction of robots and drones in the air, on land and under water.
A project called AIR (Autonomy, interoperability and robotics) has been established to deliver on the part of Equinor’s digital vision that cover robotics: “Robots will make our work easier”. It also delivers on the company’s strategic goals of always safe and high value. In situations where the use of ships and helicopters can be replaced by drones, there will also be a contribution to reduced CO2 emissions; supporting Equinor’s low carbon goal.
4D for robots
In Equinor, we collect a lot of data about the subsurface with 2D, 3D and 4D seismic. But have your heard of the 4 Ds for robots?
Dangerous, dirty, dull, distant; jobs with such characteristics are the ones we want to leave to the robots. Quite fitting actually, as it meets our always safe goal and fits nicely with the original word in Czech, where robota means serf labour or hard work. In Equinor terms, use of robots will mean less people in red zones (high risk areas), less exposure to e.g. chemicals, less repetitive tasks or work in difficult-to-reach places. Simply put, get humans out of harm’s way by reducing their exposure to the 4 Ds.
Money to be saved
The high value part of robotisation can be achieved by utilising robots as tools to perform inspection and maintenance task more efficiently. With robots and drones we can also conduct more frequent inspections, improving our insights into the conditions of our installations. Flying drones both externally and internally for inspection work (e.g. inside and outside a large tank) is becoming more common, but it is still not the standard for many applications. Equinor has tested robots for welding, cleaning, sandblasting, painting, 3D scanning, leak detection, environmental monitoring, and quantification of diffuse emissions. Equinor is also testing logistical operations with drones in the North Sea, with good results. And deep into the ocean we want to use drones for pipeline inspections, maintenance and more.
The estimated cost savings from a broad implementation of robots and drones exceeds 1 billion NOK per year. The value creation will come not only from the actual tasks solved more efficiently; the robots will also collect operational data. The goal is that these data can give significant added value when put to use. As data collection platforms, the robots will play an important in our data driven operations.
Robots are science fiction no more, and they are not taking over in an uncontrolled manner, as they did in the Czech play. In Equinor, they are supplementary and a tangible, very cool part of digitalisation.
