Offshore wind turbine maintance robot - RoBFMS
Project Summary:
| Project Name: RoBFMS (Autonomous, robotic and AI enabled biofouling monitoring, cleaning and management system for offshore wind turbine monopile foundations) | |
|---|---|
| Budget: £393,354 | Funded by: Innovate UK (Ref. 104079) |
| Project Partners: InnoTecUK, Brunel University | |
| Project period: Apr 2018 – Apr 2019 | |
Project description:
RoBFMS is an automated cleaning platform for offshore monopile wind turbines. The project uses a machine learning-based visual inspection system to identify biofouling growth on the external face of the offshore wind turbine monopile foundations, then use an ultrasonic cleaning system to remove growth. This prevents damage from long-term biofouling accumulation. These systems are mounted on a magnetic based robotic crawler which is deployed above water on the turbine tower and then moves itself below sea level to begin cleaning. Advantages over existing systems are that a surface crawler is cheaper than existing ROV systems and is less hazardous than sending human divers.
Images of RoBFMS Robots tested on a simulated offshore monopile windturbine envrionment.
RoBFMS In lab mapping test video.
Personal Role within project:
- Project technical lead/coordinator within InnoTecUK to coordinate efforts of mechanical, electronics and software teams.
- Software architecture design.
- Development of the ROS based control, localisation and teleoperation software stack.