Issue 39 Unmanned Systems Technology August/September 2021 Maritime Robotics Mariner l Simulation tools focus l MRS MR-10 and MR-20 l UAVs insight l HFE International GenPod l Exotec Skypod l Autopilots focus l Aquaai Mazu

6 Mission-critical info for UST professionals Platform one A two-year project in the UK has been examining the use of UAVs for monitoring offshore wind farms from unmanned boats (writes Nick Flaherty). Researchers at the Multi-Platform Inspection, Maintenance and Repair in Extreme Environments (MIMRee) project say they have successfully proven and demonstrated the concept’s core imaging and stabilisation technologies. A Halcyon autonomous ship from Thales spots defects in wind farm blades using an onboard high-speed camera imaging system that can scan the structure of wind farms blades while they are still turning. The tips can travel at speeds of 200 mph, which can be difficult to monitor from a moving ship. The ‘moving wind turbine blade camera’ system uses an EO sensor with machine learning processing to detect defects on the blades without interfering with wind turbine operations. The stabilisation system allows multiple images of the turning blades to be taken from up to 100 m away to allow defects such as cracks, erosion or damage from lightning strikes to be detected. The ship then signals the blades to stop and launches a specially adapted UAV developed by Perceptual Robotics that carries a six-legged ‘blade crawler’ robot onto them to carry out a repair. The crawler was lent to the project by BladeBUG. The feet of the crawler have an electronic skin called Wootzkin, developed by Wootzano, that is already used in harsh environments such as nuclear decommissioning. It allows the crawler to navigate around slippery wind turbine blades while carrying out the repairs. The Royal College of Arts Robotics Laboratory developed a repair module with Plant Integrity that the crawler uses to clean a blade and recoat any repairs to it. The AI system controls how the MIMRee robots work together and communicate with human operators. “NASA’s current Mars exploration programme uses a team of robots, from helicopters to rovers, that can withstand extreme conditions. Astronauts are deployed selectively, where human ingenuity is most needed and risk to life is lowest,” said Professor Sara Bernardini at the University of Bristol, who led the development. “Likewise, future offshore work will be about humans being in the control room, developing and managing robotics and learning the skills required to work in teams with them.” The project was led by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, which believes this will be a commercial proposition within 10 years. Part of the project used hardware-in-the loop testing to allow the various elements of software to be tested together in the lab. All three elements of the system were then tested offshore. “Conditions at sea make human-only missions subject to safety risks, delays, cancellations and extensive turbine downtime,” said Ben George, who leads ORE Catapult’s Operations and Maintenance Centre of Excellence. “That would not be a feasible way of running the super-sized offshore power stations of tomorrow that lie in deep waters hundreds of miles from shore. “This project has proved that such a system is possible and can handle the extreme environments at sea. We have tested each of its components in real- world settings, including at our offshore demonstration turbine off the coast of Scotland.” Marine vessels Multi-system success August/September 2021 | Unmanned Systems Technology The UAV is launched from the autonomous ship and places the crawler robot onto a damaged blade to carry out repairs