The offshore oil and gas industry is beginning to embrace robotic technologies as a means of improving operational efficiency, increasing workers safety, and reducing costs. As the industry increasingly turns to remote operation and fewer workers onboard, the deployment of these robots represent a paradigm shift in offshore operations.

Brazilian companies accelerated investments in mobile robots to perform jobs considered to be more dangerous for humans. From the four-legged robot dog to wheeled and tracked vehicles, technology is taking the risk in performing that require exposure to high temperatures, heights and chemicals.

Within the last 12 months, a series of significant steps have been made in the world of offshore robotics; a number of legged and tracked robots made their first steps onto and around offshore facilities in Malaysia. For operators, it’s a big leap to have these things on facilities. For technology developers, it’s a big step towards future potential adoption offshore.

"Malaysian national oil company (NOC) Petronas and robotics company ANYbotics are co-developing a four-legged dog-like robot for autonomous robotic inspection at offshore oil and gas platforms."

"We’ve covered Swiss robotics company ANYbotics with some regularity over the years. The company has offered its own take on the quadrupedal robotics space that has, naturally, drawn comparisons to Boston Dynamics’ Spot. Of course, as we noted earlier, the company’s take on the category has been in development for several years, so there may be a case of convergent evolution here."

"Adopting a robotic workforce can be a daunting task for operators, as the journey can be long and difficult if not set up correctly. ANYbotics has been building up the resources, tools, and support services to enable successful robot commissioning and onboarding."