BOW, the universal robotics software company has announced it has been selected for a new offshore renewable energy project with Innovate UK, including partners ORE Catapult and ACUA Ocean.The O.S.I.R.I.S project will assess the viability of deploying nested robotic systems—a combination of aerial drones and underwater autonomous vehicles to drastically reduce maintenance costs and improve operational efficiency and safety in offshore wind farms.
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By 2027, the project will introduce a fully autonomous inspection system, offering a scalable, cost-effective solution for offshore wind maintenance with potential applications across the wider marine industry.
The UK accounts for 43% of Europe's offshore wind capacity, generating a record 49 TWh of renewable electricity—enough to power half of all UK households.Operations and maintenance play a vital role in ensuring offshore wind farms operate efficiently, making up approximately 25% of their lifetime costs.As the industry grows, the need for frequent inspections increases, yet traditional methods depend on human intervention, which is expensive, time-consuming, and poses safety risks.
The O.S.I.R.I.S project aims to transform this process by deploying a nested robotic system capable of performing fully autonomous inspections. BOW's Software Development Kit (SDK) will be integrated into ORE Catapult's Synthetic Test and Unified Demonstration System (STUDS), significantly enhancing ORE Catapult's ability to simulate and co-ordinate different environmental conditions and scenarios for a range of robot models before their deployment. ACUA Ocean's hydrogen-powered unmanned surface vessel (H-USV) will act as the hub for deploying and managing aerial drones and underwater robots, enabling real-time coordination between the two "nested robotic" systems.
BOW was selected as part of this project as it removes a primary robotics bottleneck for critical industries, allowing developers and manufacturers to create, simulate and deploy applications for various robot models using the programming language and operating system of their choice. This latest announcement follows BOW's recent news of raising a £4 million seed round to further reduce the cost and complexity of programming robots. Mike Tinmouth, Co-Founder of ACUA Ocean said: "This Innovate UK feasibility and viability project represents a significant step towards autonomous, zero-emission offshore operations.
Our hydrogen-powered unmanned surface vessel (USV Pioneer) will serve as the central hub for deploying and managing robotic inspections, reducing the need for at-risk crewed vessels and cutting operational emissions.By collaborating with BOW and ORE Catapult, we are not only enhancing efficiency and safety in offshore wind maintenance but also paving the way for a cleaner, more sustainable future in maritime industries following the project's completion." Melissa Sandison, Principal R&D Robotics Engineer of Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, said: "Robotics has enormous potential for offshore wind, making operations safer, more resilient, and cost-effective while accelerating progress toward Net Zero.Our offshore simulation environment fast-tracks robotic adoption by enabling realistic testing and validation, helping technologies advance through TRLs more efficiently.
Through this Innovate UK project, we are enhancing our STUDS simulation platform with BOW's adaptable SDK, allowing seamless integration of multiple robots from different manufacturers.This enables us to simulate heterogeneous multi-robot fleets where aerial, surface, and subsea robots collaborate as a team, ensuring reliable communication and interoperability for real-world offshore operations." Nick Thompson, CEO of BOW, added: "The UK is one of the world leaders in offshore wind, accounting for 18 percent of global offshore wind capacity, but there is much more potential for this source of renewable energy if we can make building and maintaining offshore wind farms safer, more reliable and cheaper.Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband has set an ambitious target to quadruple the UK's offshore wind capacity by 2030 as part of its Net Zero plan.
Our mission is to accelerate the development and deployment of innovative robotic solutions that will "better our worlds'' - which is what BOW stands for.BOW's participation in this Innovate UK project with ORE Catapult and ACUA Ocean is enhancing the simulation of robotics deployments for offshore renewable energy, leading to more robust, reliable and cost-efficient deployments, and further accelerating the path to a Net Zero energy sector."
We push the limits in renewable energy, focusing on innovation to drive progress.Pioneering new solutions and ground-breaking technology, and smarter ways of working to make progress for our clients and the industry.
