Nauticus Robotics to empower Petrobras’ offshore activities
Nauticus Robotics, a developer of autonomous robots using artificial intelligence for data collection and intervention services for the ocean industries, has been awarded a contract with Petrobras, one of the world’s largest energy companies, to deploy Aquanaut, the company’s autonomous subsea robot, to support Petrobras’ offshore activities.
Petrobras is increasing its focus on robotics and artificial intelligence, particularly in the offshore sectors, and has awarded Nauticus a significant contract to use Aquanaut for infield inspection services in Petrobras’ Deepwater Production Field. This contract, one of the largest of its kind globally, involves approximately two months of subsea inspection. Nauticus’ win positions it as a key player for future contracts with Petrobras, expanding its international presence in South America.
Multispectral perception sensors
Over the past several years, Nauticus has been developing a library of autonomous behaviours based on the latest techniques in machine learning and artificial intelligence, which enable its subsea robots to learn and adapt to the dynamic conditions of working underwater. The fully electric Aquanaut carries an array of multispectral perception sensors that allow the robot to detect, classify, inspect and act upon subsea infrastructure using its pair of manipulators without direct operator control. This method provides significant cost and greenhouse gas emissions reductions over conventional methods.
“A contract with another worldwide leading operator for Nauticus speaks to the state-of-the-art technologies of our autonomous robots as we further penetrate the global markets,” said Nicolaus Radford, CEO of Nauticus. “The market opportunity for Nauticus in offshore Brazil is significant, as it is one of the world’s most active offshore energy basins; we are pleased to enter this market through a world class operator. We competed through a rigorous tender process with many well-respected industry competitors to earn this business with Petrobras and eagerly await the deployment of our assets to validate our capabilities. We continue to build our robust pipeline of opportunities, giving us confidence to execute on our mission and deliver long-term value to shareholders.”
Petrobras is one of the world’s largest and most active offshore operators, managing 57 platforms and 10,000 miles of oil and gas pipelines and producing 2.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
