Herself’s Artificial Intelligence

The most important gain of automating oil platforms is that oil fields too small to be profitable become profitable when you can use a small automated platform to handle the oil.  Oil prices will have to remain high for this to be economically feasible. Robots will take over the world just as soon as it is economically feasible for them to do so.

In the future, offshore platforms could be run by robots alone, with human beings staying on land. . . .
At the control panel, Liljebäck has pre-programmed a huge range of rapid movements of the colossus inside the room. The robot arm glides silently back and forward on its beam, suddenly moves out in a wide arc to the left, and then straight towards the scientist, before turning downwards to the floor. Liljebäck says that the framework, traversing crane and robot arm weigh a total of seven and a half tonnes. It would not be a good idea to get too close.

Nor will the petroleum operators find themselves in close contact with the new robots when, if all goes according to plan, they are ready for installation in 2015. The operators will remain on land and control them from there, reducing both risks and costs. . .

[ read more Robots taking over the job on offshore oil drilling platforms]

More information:
Statoil Hydro
Sintef