Opportunity to develop world-first oil pipeline robotics now available

Lagos -- An exciting opportunity has become available to help bring to market world pioneering robotics to repair oil pipelines from a safe, remote distance without the need to stop production.

A team led by engineering firm Forth has worked for the past twoand-a-half years on the creation of FSWBot, an innovative friction stir welding robotic crawler devised for internal repair and refurbishment of pipelines, and they are now looking for assistance to help bring the working prototype to the commercial stage.

The FSWBot is being developed to travel hundreds of miles down an oil pipeline to scan for any defects in the structure, and carry out subsequent repairs - all while oil continues to flow. The robot is controlled remotely by engineers at a safe distance from the pipeline.

This process will remove the need for divers to work on pipelines and for oil production to be halted, therefore saving significant time, money and, by removing humans from hazardous environments, potentially saving lives.

The FSWBot has innovative technology which allows the robot to ‘walk’ to the exact point of defect, place a milling patch in place and then weld the problem area.

Forth has produced a concept model of the FSWBot and successfully demonstrated the prototype to a consortium of partners at its headquarters in Cumbria in July. The Innovate UK-backed project has also been supported by partners TWI, Joining 4.0 Innovation Centre (J4IC, a partnership between TWI and Lancaster University), Innvotek and London South Bank University,

LSBU.

Now that the pilot system has been demonstrated successfully, Forth is seeking further partners for full commercial deployment of the equipment.