Subsea weld inspection using an advanced robotic manipulator

The ARM (Automated Remote Manipulation) Project has developed a new subsea system for the cleaning and inspection of nodal welds. It consists of an advanced robotic manipulator mounted on an extend/roll mechanism. This is part of a special toolskid carried by a standard workclass ROV. The manipulator was developed specially for inspection by Slingsby Engineering Limited. It is controlled by a unique, PC-based robot system developed by Technical Software Consultants Limited. This provides a full 3D graphical model of the ROV, toolskid, manipulator and workpiece node. It provides full manual, semi-automatic and robotic control of the manipulator (with collision detection). The ARM system will be completed, and undergo testing, during the summer and autumn of 1995. This will culminate in full offshore trials during the spring of 1996. The ARM 1 Project ended in September 1994 with the build of the new underwater manipulator and computer supervisory control system. Work continues in the ARM 2 Project to complete an entire inspection system consisting of the manipulator, an enhanced control system, a toolskid with a manipulator deployment system and attachment system, a compliant tracking system and an array based subsea NDT sensor. As before, this phase is being conducted by Slingsby Engineering Ltd. (SEL) and Technical Software Consultants Limited (TSC) with sponsorship from Mobil North Sea Ltd. (MNSL) and the Offshore Supplies Office (OSO).