Rovco trials artificial intelligence inspections project

Bristol-based subsea technology company Rovco has secured Innovate UK funding to develop a 3D visualisation system as part of a two-part artificial intelligence (AI) demonstrator project potentially worth £1 million (US$1.35 million).

Working with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, the project’s first phase will involve Rovco developing the equipment and software required to produce live 3D data from challenging and extreme subsea environments.

The technology will be tested at ORE Catapult’s renewable energy test facility at Blyth in England.

Phase two will include the development of a complete 3D vision-based survey solution using artificial intelligence (AI).

They believe the technology could reduce offshore inspection costs by up to 80 per cent, exploiting advances in camera technology and embedded graphic processing when using survey-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

The first phase of the project will be 70 per cent supported by Innovate UK, and the remaining 30 per cent will be funded by Rovco.

The planned phase two is expected to be further backed by Innovate UK once technical feasibility is proven.