国家机器人中心开发用于支持海上风电场的无人维修船

前言

大大改善工人的健康和安全。

Electric remotely operated vehicles (eROVs) that perform maintenance and repair tasks on offshore wind turbines are being developed by the National Robotarium in partnership with Fugro, the world’s leading Geo-data specialist. Deployed from Fugro’s uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), the companies are working closely together to explore how the offshore energy sector can benefit from advancing this autonomous technology.

英国国家机器人中心(National Robotarium)与全球领先的地理数据专家Fugro合作，正在开发对海上风力涡轮机执行维护和维修任务的电动远程操作车辆(eROV)。两家公司在Fugro的无人水面船(USV)上进行部署，密切合作，探索海上能源部门如何从推进这种自主技术中受益。

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The £1.4 million Underwater Intervention for Offshore Renewable Energies (UNITE) project aims to dramatically improve health and safety for workers by reducing the need for potentially hazardous offshore maintenance missions conducted by crewed support vessels.

这项耗资140万英镑的海上可再生能源水下干预(UNITE)项目旨在通过减少由船员支持船进行的潜在危险的海上维护任务的需求，大大改善工人的健康和安全。

The remotely operated robotic systems will address a number of additional sector challenges including supporting industry to reduce carbon emissions, improve offshore turbine productivity through reduced downtime, and make maintenance and repair exercises more cost-effective and timely.

远程操作的机器人系统将解决一些额外的行业挑战，包括支持行业减少碳排放，通过减少停机时间提高海上涡轮机的生产率，并使维护和维修工作更具成本效益和及时性。

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The UK has more than 11,000 offshore wind assets around its shores, with thousands more planned by 2050. On average, each turbine requires up to three maintenance check-ups per year and this figure increases as turbines age and require more maintenance to stay fully operational.

英国在其海岸周围拥有超过11,000个海上风电资产，到2050年计划再增加数千个。平均而言，每台涡轮机每年需要多达三次维护检查，并且随着涡轮机的老化，需要更多的维护以保持全面运行，这个数字会增加。

Current industry maintenance methods involve vessels travelling into and working in areas of open ocean where a mix of trained divers and ship-based crews manually inspect and or deploy tele-operated robots for repair of individual wind turbines.

目前的行业维护方法包括船只驶入开阔海域并在那里工作，由训练有素的潜水员和船上的工作人员手动检查或部署远程操作的机器人来维修单个风力涡轮机。

When applied to the whole of the UK’s offshore wind sector, this translates into potentially hundreds of thousands of crewed maintenance missions every year which are costly for business, contribute emissions to the environment and present a safety risk for workers.

当应用于整个英国海上风电行业时，这意味着每年可能有数十万个船员维护任务，这对企业来说成本高昂，对环境造成排放，并对工人构成安全风险。

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In addition to supporting the uncrewed and remotely operated vessels, the pioneering research project will help develop autonomous and semi-autonomous ROVs capable of conducting subsea inspection, maintenance and repair tasks which can be monitored onshore whilst remotely deployed and operated from anywhere in the world.

除了支持无人驾驶和远程操作的船只外，该开创性研究项目还将帮助开发能够进行海底检查、维护和维修任务的自主和半自主rov，这些rov可以在陆上进行监控，同时可以在世界任何地方远程部署和操作。

Researchers will specifically focus on developing technologies which allow robots to build more accurate maps of the subsea terrain to better navigate obstacles and targets. The project will also explore how robots autonomously interact with underwater structures, such as grasping or moving objects, whilst being subject to external forces like changing currents or rough seas.

研究人员将特别关注开发技术，使机器人能够建立更准确的海底地形地图，以更好地导航障碍物和目标。该项目还将探索机器人如何自主地与水下结构相互作用，如抓取或移动物体，同时受到外力的影响，如变化的洋流或汹涌的大海。

The project will be delivered by researchers from Heriot-Watt University and Imperial College London working within the National Robotarium, the UK’s leading AI and Robotics centre, in collaboration with Fugro and funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation.

该项目将由赫瑞瓦特大学(Heriot-Watt University)和伦敦帝国理工学院(Imperial College London)的研究人员与辉固(Fugro)合作，在英国领先的人工智能和机器人中心——国家机器人中心(National Robotarium)工作，并由英国研究与创新部门工程与物理科学研究委员会(Engineering and Physical Science Research Council)资助。

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The National Robotarium is part of the Data-Driven Innovation initiative, supported by £21 million from the UK Government and £1.4 million from the Scottish Government. The initiative aims to turn Edinburgh into the data capital of Europe and is part of the wider £1.3 billion Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Region Deal.

国家机器人中心是数据驱动创新计划的一部分，由英国政府支持2100万英镑，苏格兰政府支持140万英镑。该倡议旨在将爱丁堡变成欧洲的数据之都，是更广泛的13亿英镑爱丁堡和东南苏格兰城市地区协议的一部分。

Prof. Yvan Petillot is academic co-lead at the National Robotarium and principal investigator of the UNITE project. He said:

Yvan Petillot教授是国家机器人中心的学术联合领导，也是UNITE项目的首席研究员。他说:

“We’re only a generation away from our obligation to deliver on our net zero promises by 2050 and 2045 in Scotland, so can’t afford to let the challenges faced by the offshore renewables sector slow down the construction and operation of essential, green energy assets like wind turbines.

“到2050年和2045年，我们距离苏格兰实现净零排放承诺的义务只有一代人的时间，因此，我们不能让海上可再生能源行业面临的挑战放慢风力涡轮机等重要绿色能源资产的建设和运营。”

“Remote inspection and repair using robotic systems deployed in the field and controlled from shore is within our grasp. The long-term ambition is for crewless boats to be able to do this autonomously without direct human control based on a predetermined maintenance cycle - critical if we’re to see the widespread adoption of robotics in the rapidly expanding offshore wind sector.

“使用部署在现场并从岸上控制的机器人系统进行远程检查和维修是在我们的掌握之中。长期目标是，无人船能够在预先确定的维护周期基础上，在没有人类直接控制的情况下自主完成这项工作——如果我们想看到机器人技术在迅速扩张的海上风电领域得到广泛应用，这一点至关重要。

“The National Robotarium’s partnership with Fugro presents an exciting opportunity to develop this next generation of underwater technologies as well as the skills and expertise needed to support the transition to net zero. UNITE has enormous potential to power the UK’s offshore renewable sector and beyond, delivering worldwide economic and environmental impact that can benefit communities around the world.”

“国家机器人馆与辉固的合作为开发下一代水下技术以及支持向净零过渡所需的技能和专业知识提供了一个令人兴奋的机会。UNITE具有巨大的潜力，可以为英国的海上可再生能源行业及其他领域提供动力，带来全球经济和环境影响，使世界各地的社区受益。”