Autonomous inspectors will work as a team to drive down costs

The latest phase of a project funded by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a public sector organisation that invests to support research and innovation, could see a fully autonomous maintenance system for offshore windfarms delivered two years from now, researchers believe.

The aim of the ambitious project, the latest phase of the Offshore Swarm for Inspection and Renewable Infrastructure Servicing (OSIRIS) initiative, is to deliver a fully autonomous inspection system for offshore windfarms that would deploy ‘nested’ robotic systems – a combination of aerial drones and underwater autonomous vehicles – to enhance efficiency, reduce maintenance costs and improve safety. 

By 2027, it is hoped, the project will enable the introduction of a fully autonomous inspection system, offering a scaleable, cost-effective solution for offshore wind maintenance with potential applications across the wider marine industry. 

In the latest phase of the project, the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (ORE Catapult), a technology innovation and research centre for offshore renewable energy, is working with ACUA Ocean, the company behind the development of an innovative uncrewed vessel that entered the water for the first time in early 2025, and BOW, which develops software for robotics, to demonstrate the feasibility and viability of an approach to maintenance that will reduce the need for manned vessels and human intervention.

The UK plans to build more offshore windfarms, but new ways need to be found to maintain them and to reduce the cost of doing so – currently, operations and maintenance accounts for approximately 25% of the lifetime costs of a windfarm. The OSIRIS project aims to transform this process, deploying robotic systems capable of fully autonomous inspections from uncrewed craft such as ACUA Ocean’s hydrogen-powered USV, which would act as a hub for the deployment and management of aerial and underwater units. To do so, real-time co-ordination between two nested robotic systems is required.

In the upcoming phase of the OSIRIS project, BOW’s software development kit (SDK), a type of universal robotics platform, will be integrated with ORE Catapult’s synthetic test and unified demonstration system (STUDS), a simulation environment, allowing for testing, validation and co-ordination of robotic models and systems in advance of real-world deployment. BOW’s software was selected for the project because it allows developers and manufacturers to create, simulate and deploy applications for robot models using a programming language and operating system of their choice. Integrated into STUDS, the SDK will enhance the ORE Catapult’s ability to simulate, and co-ordinate, different environmental conditions and scenarios for a range of robots.

Using STUDs, the ORE Catapult will be able to fast-track adoption of robotics, enabling realistic testing and validation, helping technologies advance through technology research levels more efficiently. The SDK will enhance the simulation environment at ORE Catapult and enable multiple robots from different manufacturers to be tested. This will enable it to simulate heterogeneous multi-robot fleets in which aerial, surface and subsea units collaborate as a team.