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.
Similar content being viewed by others
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.
References
Abhimanyu Pratap Singh, Atanu Paul, Yogesh Singh, and Koena Mukherjee. Mechanical design of a modular underwater rov for surveillance and cleaning purpose. In Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering, pages 779–793. Springer, 2021
Ali Outa, Fadl Abdellatif, Ayman Amer, Sahejad Patel, Hassane Trigui, and Ameen Obedan. Underwater marine growth brushing mechanism with passive self-adjust for curved surfaces, July 9 2019. US Patent 10,342,326
Antonelli, Gianluca, Caccavale, Fabrizio, Chiaverini, Stefano: Adaptive tracking control of underwater vehicle-manipulator systems based on the virtual decomposition approach. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation 20(3), 594–602 (2004)
Bin Xu, Seiji Abe, Norimitsu Sakagami, and Shunmugham R Pandian. Robust nonlinear controller for underwater vehicle-manipulator systems. In Proceedings, 2005 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics., pages 711–716. IEEE, 2005
Capocci, Romano, Dooly, Gerard, Omerdić, Edin, Coleman, Joseph, Newe, Thomas, Toal, Daniel: Inspection-class remotely operated vehicles-a review. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 5(1), 13 (2017)
Cygnus-Instruments. Cygnus ultrasonic thickness measurement modes, 2017
Deep Ocean Group. https://global-uploads.webflow.com/61bc9c83993276d6130d6aa1/620b77d5c292cf6daf9f927b_59%20_%20Triton%20XL%20Datasheet.pdf, 2022. Accessed: 2022-08-13
DeepOceanEngineering. Deep ocean engineering phantom t5. https://www.deepocean.com/rov-phantom-t5.php, n.d. Accessed: 2022-03-24
Éverton L de Oliveira, Gabriel S Belém, Rodrigo M Morais, and Décio C Donha. Evaluation of dynamic coupling intensity and passive attitude control of underwater vehicle-manipulator systems. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 54(16):356–363, 2021
F Diaz Ledezma, Ayman Amer, Fadl Abdellatif, Ali Outa, Hassane Trigui, Sahejad Patel, and Roba Binyahib. A market survey of offshore underwater robotic inspection technologies for the oil and gas industry. In SPE Saudi Arabia Section Annual Technical Symposium and Exhibition. OnePetro, 2015
Fadl Abdellatif, Ali Outa, Sahejad Patel, Ayman Amer, and Hassane Trigui. Underwater vehicles and inspection methods, April 30 2019. US Patent 10,272,980
Fadl Abdellatif, Ayman Amer, Ali Outa, Sahejad Patel, and Abdullah Arab. Magnetically coupled integrated ultrasonic testing and cathodic protection measurement probe, April 27 2021. US Patent 10,989,529
Fadl Abdellatif, Hamad Al-Saiari, Ali Outa, Ayman Amer, Sahejad Patel, Ameen Obedan, and Hassane Trigui. Integrated ultrasonic testing and cathodic protection measurement probe, February 4 2020. US Patent 10,551,296
Fadl Abdellatif, Hamad Al-Saiari, Ali Outa, Ayman Amer, Sahejad Patel, Ameen Obedan, and Hassane Trigui. Integrated ultrasonic testing and cathodic protection measurement probe, March 19 2019. US Patent 10,234,375
Fugro. Fcv series by fugro. https://www.fugro.com/our-services/marine-asset-integrity/rov-services-and-tooling/rov-remote-operated-vehicles, n.d. Accessed: 2022-03-24
Gianluca Antonelli and G Antonelli. Underwater robots, volume 3. Springer, 2014
Hannifin, Parker: Parker O-Ring Handbook: ORD 5700. Parker Hannifin Corporation, Cleveland, OH (2021)
Hiroshi Yoshinada, Taku Yamazaki, Tatsunori Suwa, Toshihisa Naruse, and H Ueda. Seawater hydraulic actuator system for underwater manipulator. In Fifth International Conference on Advanced Robotics’ Robots in Unstructured Environments, pages 1330–1335. IEEE, 1991
Jee-Hwan Ryu, Dong-Soo Kwon, and Pan-Mook Lee. Control of underwater manipulators mounted on an rov using base force information. In Proceedings 2001 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No. 01CH37164), volume 4, pages 3238–3243. IEEE, 2001
Jianjun Yao, Liquan Wang, Peng Jia, and Zhuo Wang. Development of a 7-function hydraulic underwater manipulator system. In 2009 International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, pages 1202–1206. IEEE, 2009
Junli Wang, Shitong Wang, and Wenhao Leng. Vision positioning-based estimation method and its simulation studies on state of underwater manipulator. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2021, 2021
Killian Poore, Christopher Kitts, Geoffrey Wheat, and William Kirkwood. A small scale rov for shallow-water science operations. In OCEANS 2016 MTS/IEEE Monterey, pages 1–6. IEEE, 2016
LE Bruzzone, EM Cavallo, RC Michelini, RM Molfino, RP Razzoli, et al. The design of a robotic equipment for deep-sea maintenance operations. In Proc. ASME Engineering Systems Design and Analysis Conference, pages 10–13, 2000
Lee, Minho, Choi, Hyeung-Sik.: A robust neural controller for underwater robot manipulators. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks 11(6), 1465–1470 (2000)
Manhar R Dhanak and Nikolaos I **ros. Springer handbook of ocean engineering. Springer, 2016
MarineVision. Tritech micronnav. http://www.marinevision.es/en/diving-pro/tritech/pos_micron-nav.html, n.d
Mario Alberto Jordan and Jorge Luis Bustamante. On the presence of nonlinear oscillations in the teleoperation of underwater vehicles under the influence of sea wave and current. In 2007 American Control Conference, pages 894–899, 2007
Miao Yang, Zhibin Sheng, Yanhe Che, **tong Hu, Ke Hu, and Yixiang Du. Design of small monitoring rov for aquaculture. In OCEANS 2019-Marseille, pages 1–9. IEEE, 2019
Mohammed Imran and A.R. Anwar Khan. Characterization of al-7075 metal matrix composites: a review. Journal of Materials Research and Technology, 8(3):3347–3356, 2019
Mordechai Ben-Ari and Francesco Mondada. Kinematics of a robotic manipulator. In Elements of Robotics, pages 267–291. Springer, 2018
MW Dannigan and George T Russell. Evaluation and reduction of the dynamic coupling between a manipulator and an underwater vehicle. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 23(3):260–273, 1998
National Research Council: Improving the Safety of Marine Pipelines. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC (1994)
OceanaSubsea. Oceana subsea work class rov triton xl. http://www.oceanasubsea.com/media/1080/oceana-subsea-datasheet-xl-a-frame.pdf, n.d. Accessed: 2022-03-24
Parag Tarwadi, Yuta Shiraki, Ori Ganoni, Shanghai Wei, Ho Seok Ahn, and Bruce MacDonald. Design and development of a robotic vehicle for shallow-water marine inspections. ar**v preprint ar**v:2007.04563, 2020
Qifeng Zhang, Aiqun Zhang, and Kuichen Yan. Improved design and control experiments of an underwater electric manipulator. In 2006 SICE-ICASE International Joint Conference, pages 3089–3093. IEEE, 2006
Reachrobotics. Alpha by reachrobotics. https://reachrobotics.com/products/manipulators/reach-alpha/, n.d. Accessed: 2023-08-15
Reachrobotics. Bravo by reachrobotics. https://reachrobotics.com/products/manipulators/reach-bravo/, n.d. Accessed: 2023-08-15
ROBOTIS. ROBOTIS E-manual: H42-20-S300-R. ROBOTIS, California, United States, 2021
ROBOTIS. ROBOTIS E-manual: L54-50-S500-R. ROBOTIS, California, United States, 2021
Ryan Chaplin. Industrial Ultrasonic Inspection: Levels 1 and 2. FriesenPress, 2017
SAAB Seaeye. https://www.saabseaeye.com/uploads/leopard_datasheet_rev1_(1).pdf, 2019. Accessed: 2022-08-13
SAAB. Saab seaeye falcon. https://www.saabseaeye.com/solutions/underwater-vehicles/falcon, n.d. Accessed: 2022-03-24
SABB. Saab seaeye. https://www.saabseaeye.com/uploads/tiger_datasheet_rev1.pdf, n.d. Accessed: 2022-03-24
Sara Aldhaheri, Giulia De Masi, Èric Pairet, and Paola Ardón. Underwater robot manipulation: Advances, challenges and prospective ventures. ar**v preprint ar**v:2201.02954, 2022
Shahab Heshmati-Alamdari, Charalampos P Bechlioulis, George C Karras, Alexandros Nikou, Dimos V Dimarogonas, and Kostas J Kyriakopoulos. A robust interaction control approach for underwater vehicle manipulator systems. Annual Reviews in Control, 46:315–325, 2018
Sivčev, Satja, Coleman, Joseph, Omerdić, Edin, Dooly, Gerard, Toal, Daniel: Underwater manipulators: A review. Ocean Engineering 163, 431–450 (2018)
Teledyne Marine. https://www.teledynemarine.com/en-us/products/SiteAssets/SeaBotix/SeaBotix%20vLBV300%20Data%20Sheet-2021.pdf, 2021. Accessed: 2022-08-13
Teledyne. Teledyne marine seabotix. http://www.teledynemarine.com/seabotix, n.d. Accessed: 2022-03-24
TMI-Orion. Ema by tmi-orion. https://www.tmi-orion-dynamics.com/products/tools/ema-electrical-manipulator-arm/, n.d. Accessed: 2023-08-15
VideoRay. https://videoray.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2022-Spec-Sheet-MSS-Defender-4-20.pdf, 2021. Accessed: 2022-08-13
Wuxiang Zhang, Hongcheng Xu, and **lun Ding. Design and dynamic analysis of an underwater manipulator. In Proceedings of the 2015 Chinese Intelligent Automation Conference, pages 399–409. Springer, 2015
Yong Bai and Qiang Bai. Subsea pipeline integrity and risk management. Gulf Professional Publishing, 2014
Yuguang, Zhong, Fan, Yang: Dynamic modeling and adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control for multi-link underwater manipulators. Ocean Engineering 187, 106202 (2019)
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
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
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).
Ethical approval
This research study has no ethical declarations to make.
Consent to participate
This research study had no human subjects and as such no consent of participation was necessary.
Consent for publication
This research study had no human subjects and as such no consent of participation was necessary.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
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
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41315-023-00309-8