Intelligent automation: robotics for the future of energy

At Eni we have a competence centre that develops technologies for the automation and digitalisation of plants: from fixed or mobile distributed sensors equipped with their own network for data collection, to robots used on land, at sea and in the air, and data processing systems for engineering use and for managing alarms and related recommendations for action, even in real time. The initiatives are applied in different contexts, in accordance with the technology development plan:

• integrity inspection of onshore and offshore assets
• greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring
• CO₂ capture and storage (CCUS)
• environmental monitoring, including forestry and agro-energy scenarios
• transition in energy fusion and renewable energies

We use the expertise we have established in the industry, applying robotics in our plants to improve safety in the workplace, reducing the exposure of operators to hazardous and remote environments and to allow workers access to unreachable areas. We design robots to increase the quality, quantity and reliability of environmental monitoring, industrial operations and asset integrity data; our systems aim to optimise operations in terms of cost and time and to ensure faster and more accurate asset maintenance.

Aerial monitoring

We have developed the ATEX ROGER K3 drone that performs autonomous missions in very complex areas: it takes off from a special charging and control station, flies unmanned along pre-programmed routes, scans specific elements to detect potential anomalies, returns and connects to the docking station. It stays here when not in operation, recharging the batteries and downloading the acquired data, which is then processed centrally. After several applications at Italian sites, the drone also carried out an operational campaign in Congo.

Certified in November 2022 to operate in areas of moderate risk due to the presence of potentially explosive gases or vapours (ATEX zone 2), this drone is able to fly in the absence of a GPS signal. 

Marine monitoring

Clean Sea is the underwater robot developed by Eni, designed to perform simultaneous structural integrity and quality surveys of the underwater environment. The system has been fully operational since 2016 and has been successfully deployed in several campaigns in the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea and the Caspian Sea. 

The robot is based on interchangeable e-pods, mission modules integrating a series of sensors and analysers dedicated to specific monitoring tasks, designed to be installed on the carrier vehicle. For example, there are e-pods dedicated to water sampling, detailed visual analysis, pollutant analysis, geophysical surveys and 3D acoustic reconstructions. These modules also adopt a hybrid ROV/AUV (Remotely Operated Vehicle)/(Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) architecture that allows them to be used in remote-controlled form from a support vessel or in fully autonomous mode. 

We have a multidisciplinary working group that deals with all aspects of a prototype's lifecycle (from initial requirements to realisation and field testing) and we have active collaborations with universities, research centres and a number of strategic technology suppliers in order to have greater production flexibility and direct access to the market.