Statoil will send swimming snake robots on the seabed – Offshore.no

Kongsberg Maritime and Statoil have signed an agreement with Eelume, a spin-off company from NTNU to develop snake robots for subsea inspection and maintenance.

NTNU and SINTEF have researched snake robots for more than 10 years. Eelume now developing a disruptive solution for underwater inspection and maintenance in the form of swimming snake robots.

The idea is to let these robots perform inspection and easier intervention work on the seabed, so as to reduce the use of large and cost-driving vessel. With its snake-like shape, the sleek and flexible Eelume robot unique opportunities to get to places that are hard to reach with current technology.

– Eelume is a good example of how innovation and new technology helps reduce costs. Instead of using expensive boats on smaller jobs, we are currently developing this technology which becomes a sort of self-custodian on the seabed. To support smaller companies in developing and bringing new technologies to market is an important part of our research portfolio, says Elisabeth Birkeland Kvalheim, Statoil’s chief technology officer.

Eelume-vessels will be permanently installed on the seabed near the subsea installations, and perform inspection and maintenance both routinely and when needed.