Summer@LSTS 2020 continued on August 27th, 2020, 1:00-2:00 PM UTC, with Gerard Dooly, who will present Autonomous Control & Inspection Capabilities for Complex Sites.

Operation of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) in the commercial sector are generally undertaken through manual control with significant dependence on pilot skill and with video feedback from onboard camera systems. These systems and mode of operation was developed for the oil & gas industries and may not be fully suited other applications such as offshore wind and other difficult environments. The progression towards more autonomy in the ROV sector offers larger operational windows as well as other safety and cost benefits. The University of Limerick has developed autonomous systems to address this technical gap and presents solutions though interfaces onto a commercial light work-class ROV, the MRE-ROV. This talk centers around the first year of operations for the UL MRE-ROV and discusses the technological developments ongoing within the UL research lab. The discussion also centers on technologies for resident robotics systems such as autonomous intervention, live 3D reconstructions, autonomous docking and advanced imaging systems. Test results are from ship based operations off the Irish coast on a number of sites varying from Shipwreck to Coral Grounds and Oil & Gas infrastructure.

Dr. Gerard Dooly (M) has worked extensively in field robotics at UL for over 10 years. His research interests include real-time 3D reconstruction, optical fibre sensors, subsea structural health monitoring, teleoperation and automated docking & intervention. He is focused on the design and development of robotics and has engaged in numerous field operations and survey missions both here in Ireland and on the continent. Some of his recent offshore operations involved environmental sensing, anti-mine countermeasure ops, remote UAS for incident response, archaeological survey and hybrid long range UAS technologies. He also has a keen interest in underwater shipwreck discovery, survey and identification and has participated in many deep water diving expeditions worldwide. He is a qualified closed circuit trimix rebreather diver and has successfully dived and identified newly discovered shipwrecks to depths of up to 135 metres.

If you need any additional information please send an email to Jose Luiz Moutinho.