Norwegian oil company enlists Boston Dynamics’ robotic dog Spot to patrol its ships, watch for leaks and investigate areas too dangerous for human workers
- Aker BP ASA, a Norwegian oil and gas company, is using more robot workers
- The company will use Spot, the robotic watchdog created by Boston Dynamics
- Spot will patrol the company’s ships looking for leaks and taking readings
- It’s part of a ‘digitalization’ effort to make their ships safer and more efficient
The Norwegian oil company Aker BP ASA has announced it will bring aboard the infamous robotic watchdog Spot on the company’s ships in the Skarv region of the Norwegian Sea.
According to Aker, Spot will be charged with sniffing out hydrocarbon leaks, inspecting ship equipment, taking mechanical readings, generating reports, and completing inspections in areas that might be too dangerous for human workers.
Spot was developed by the Massachusetts-based robotics company Boston Dynamics, which specializes in developing autonomous and humanoid machines.
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The Norwegian oil company Aker BP ASA announced it will begin using Boston Dynamics’ robotic watchdog on Spot (pictured above) to help monitor equipment on its ships in the Norwegian Sea
‘These things never get tired, they have a larger ability to adapt and to gather data,’ Aker BP ASA’s Kjetel Digre told Bloomberg.
The announcement is part of the Aker’s new emphasis on ‘digitalization,’ which it hopes will make its ships safer and more productive.
Under this new program, the company will use a wide range of autonomous robots, including drones, to help properly maintain its ships and equipment.
‘Digitalization will be one of the differentiators between the oil companies of the world, in order to be able to deliver low cost and low emissions,’ Aker CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik said in a company statement.
‘Our vision is to digitalize all our operations from cradle to grave in order to increase productivity, enhance quality and improve the safety of our employees.’
‘Exploring the potential of robotics offshore underpin our digital journey.’
Spot officially went on sale last year and according to Boston Dynamics, it’s currently used by ‘the majority’ of the top 100 general contractors in the US, autonomously roaming construction sites and recording images to track building progress.
Spot is also being used by Massachusetts police to help investigate suspicious packages and explore areas where potentially dangerous suspects could be hiding.
Spot will be deployed on Aker’s ships in the Skarv region of the Norwegian Sea
Spot is part of the Aker’s new emphasis on ‘digitalization,’ which will use robots and drones to monitor equipment, check for leaks, take readings, and investigate areas that might be too hazardous for human workers
Spot will autonomously roam Aker’s ships and collect data and readings on whether everything is properly functioning
Some have raised concerns about ways in which robots like Spot could be used to violate private citizen’s or worker’s privacy by collecting unauthorized data as part of its approved surveillance routines.
‘We just really don’t know enough about how the state police are using this,’ the ACLU’s Kade Crockford told WBUR last November about the Massachusetts Police’s use of Spot.
‘And the technology that can be used in concert with a robotic system like this is almost limitless in terms of what kinds of surveillance and potentially even weaponization operations may be allowed.’
WHAT IS BOSTON DYNAMICS’ SPOT MINI ROBO-DOG?
Boston Dynamics first showed off SpotMini, the most advanced robot dog ever created, in a video posted in November 2017.
The firm, best known for Atlas, its 5 foot 9 (1.7 metre) humanoid robot, has revealed a new ‘lightweight’ version of its robot Spot Mini.
The robotic canine was shown trotting around a yard, with the promise that more information from the notoriously secretive firm is ‘coming soon’.
‘SpotMini is a small four-legged robot that comfortably fits in an office or home’ the firm says on its website.
It weighs 25 kg (55 lb), or 30 kg (66 lb) when you include the robotic arm.
SpotMini is all-electric and can go for about 90 minutes on a charge, depending on what it is doing, the firm says, boasting ‘SpotMini is the quietest robot we have built.’
SpotMini was first unveiled in 2016, and a previous version of the mini version of spot with a strange extendable neck has been shown off helping around the house.
In the firm’s previous video, the robot is shown walking out of the firm’s HQ and into what appears to be a home.
There, it helps load a dishwasher and carries a can to the trash.
It also at one point encounters a dropped banana skin and falls dramatically – but uses its extendable neck to push itself back up.
‘SpotMini is one of the quietest robots we have ever built, the firm says, due to its electric motors.
‘It has a variety of sensors, including depth cameras, a solid state gyro (IMU) and proprioception sensors in the limbs.
‘These sensors help with navigation and mobile manipulation.
‘SpotMini performs some tasks autonomously, but often uses a human for high-level guidance.’
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