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Multi-robot system for inspection of underwater pipelines in shallow waters

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Abstract

Shallow Water Inspection & Monitoring Robot (SWIM-R) is designed to quickly and safely inspect oil and gas pipelines in extremely shallow waters. Divers clean and inspect pipeline joints. However, diving operations are slow in shallow waters as diving support ships cannot access shallow depths. Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that can perform cleaning and inspection are typically suited for deeper regions and are too large for smaller boats that navigate in shallow areas. To resolve this challenge, two SWIM-R vehicles and a companion Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) were developed as a multi-robot system to minimize the reliance on divers for pipeline inspection. A unique mission architecture is presented that avails three operating modes depending on the depth; direct control from the shore, relayed control via the ASV, and direct control from a small zodiac. The mission architecture includes two ROVs; a Cleaning SWIM-R fitted with a water-jet nozzle to clean marine growth from the surface to be inspected, and an Inspection SWIM-R fitted with a neutrally-buoyant multi-functional robotic arm to inspect the surface and crawling tracks to traverse the seafloor. This multi-robot system was field tested, which proved its efficacy in inspecting oil and gas assets in shallow waters.

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Data availability

The authors declare that data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article, however, the software code generated is confidential.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Saudi Aramco, and we would like to acknowledge their support in the development work presented in this paper. The authors also extend their thanks to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for availing their facilities at the Red Sea for testing and validation of the technology. We also extend our gratitude to Ameen Obedan, Abdullah Arab, Mohammad Ababtain, Chad Grahame and Sultan Ahmadi for their technical support.

Funding

This work was funded by Saudi Aramco. We would like to acknowledge their support in the development work presented in this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saudi Aramco, Research and Development Center, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Sahejad Patel, Fadl Abdellatif, Mohammed Alsheikh, Hassane Trigui, Ali Outa, Ayman Amer, Mohammed Sarraj, Ahmed Al Brahim, Yazeed Alnumay, Amjad Felemban, Ali Alrasheed, Abdulwahab Halawani & Hesham Jifri

  2. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Hassan Jaleel & Jeff Shamma

  3. Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

    Hassan Jaleel

  4. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA

    Jeff Shamma

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  1. Sahejad Patel
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Contributions

Conceptualization: SP, FA, HT, AA, AO. Project administration: FA. Methodology: FA, AO, SP, HT, AA. Investigation: SP, FA, HT, AA, AO. Software: MS, SP, HJ. Formal analysis: HJ, JS, YA. Writing—original draft preparation: SP, FA, AAB, YA, MA, HJ, AH, AF, AA. Writing—review and editing: FA, SP, AAB, YA. Visualization: AH, MA, AF. Validation: SP, FA, HT, AA, AO. Supervision: FA, JS.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmed Al Brahim.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Sahejad Patel has patents U.S. Patent 10,234,375, US Patent 10,551,296, US Patent 10,989,529, and US Patent 10,272,980 issued to Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). Fadl Abdellatif has patents U.S. Patent 10,234,375, US Patent 10,551,296, US Patent 10,989,529, and US Patent 10,272,980 issued to Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). Ali Outa has patents U.S. Patent 10,234,375, US Patent 10,551,296, US Patent 10,989,529, and US Patent 10,272,980 issued to Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). Hassane Trigui has patents U.S. Patent 10,234,375 and US Patent 10,551,296, issued to Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). Ayman Amer has patents U.S. Patent 10,234,375, US Patent 10,551,296, US Patent 10,989,529, and US Patent 10,272,980 issued to Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco).

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Patel, S., Abdellatif, F., Alsheikh, M. et al. Multi-robot system for inspection of underwater pipelines in shallow waters. Int J Intell Robot Appl 8, 14–38 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41315-023-00309-8

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