Successful robotics pilot boosts remote capabilities in Yggdrasil development

This project showcased remote control and autonomous inspection offshore using the Taurob Inspector robot, temporarily deployed on the Edvard Grieg platform. The robot is “ATEX Zone 1” rated and built specifically for use in hazardous industrial environments.

Aker Solutions led the project as integrator and Robot-As-A-Service (RAAS) supplier, overseeing hardware integration, system compatibility, and overall delivery. Cognite supported the collaboration by providing the core data infrastructure. They enabled remote access and contextualization of real-time data from the Edvard Grieg platform, along with inspection data from the autonomous robot.

By extracting and contextualizing inspection data in Cognite Data Fusion®, the volume and quality of data available for predictive models is increased, enabling earlier detection of potential equipment issues and allowing them to be addressed before they lead to failures - reducing costs and minimizing unplanned downtime.  

“The project delivered operational benefits, contributing to verifying the robot’s ability to operate on a live asset while providing quality data to operators and onshore experts. This is a significant step towards remote inspection and operations which in the future will be a key part of the Yggdrasil operations strategy,” said Anja Dyb SVP of Life Cycle Services in Aker Solutions.

The project successfully tested the use of an autonomous ground robot in an offshore setting. Initial trials were conducted at the Aker Robot Garden in Fornebu, a purpose-built facility designed to simulate offshore inspection conditions. After validating remote control and data workflows, the robot was deployed to Aker BP’s Edvard Grieg platform for offshore operations.

From Aker BP’s Integrated Operations Center (IOC) in Stavanger, operators remotely controlled the robot and scheduled autonomous inspection rounds. During these missions, the robot captured high-resolution images, recorded temperature readings, and measured gas levels, confirming its ability to perform both remote teleoperation and autonomous inspections in an offshore setting.

“Through Yggdrasil, Aker BP is setting a new standard, with remote controlled operations, low-manned and unmanned installations, new technology and new ways of working.  The use of robotics is an essential part of this strategy. Robots will be working together with our operators on the area centre Hugin A, both when the platform is manned but also when we some years into operations are planning for unmanned periods. New technology is going through an extensive qualification process to be approved, and we use other assets in Aker BP, like Edvard Grieg, to test in the years leading up to production start-up in 2027. This test with the Taurob robot is an important step in the qualification process of implementing robotics,” says VP Operations Yggdrasil, Kristian Bay Næss in Aker BP.