Loggerhead Cloud Technologies - Mission planning and monitoring capabilities for Uncrewed Underwater Systems

长期以来，机器人一直被用于海上能源行业的海底检查和维护。在海上下水机器人是具有挑战性的--管理船舶运动、天气动态和大型维护级机器人的重大重量需要配备复杂起重设备的大型船舶。相关的成本和碳足迹限制了海底机器人的价值和环境效益，进而影响了新兴海洋部门的增长。尽管小型无人水面舰艇(USV)已经成为一种潜在的解决方案，但从它们部署大型机器人是不可行的。HonuWorx的项目旨在为Loggerhead创建基于云的任务规划和监控平台。它是整个系统的主要用户界面，为了确保可靠的超视距操作，它必须使操作员能够直观地计划任务，并利用不同程度的通信可用性来监控系统。Loggerhead方法优于有人员和无人员的水面舰艇部署，因为(1)它是一个资本密集度较低的系统，(2)提供了操作成本和排放的阶段性变化，(3)系统在导航和现场工作期间保持在水下，这反过来又实现了全天候操作，消除防溅区部署风险并简化法规遵从性。Loggerhead提供了一种经济上可行且可持续的方式来扩大海底机器人作业规模，以支持现有和新兴的蓝色经济部门。通过将海底作业成本降低高达50%并消除排放，Loggerhead支持关键行业的可持续增长，如海上可再生能源，这些行业必须在没有补贴的情况下盈利，尽管利润率具有挑战性。该项目是一个机会，可以扩大英国在能源转型和支持机器人技术开发方面的领导地位。

Robots have long been utilised for subsea inspection and maintenance in the offshore energy industry. Launching robots at sea is challenging - managing vessel motion, weather dynamics and the significant weight of large maintenance class robots requires large vessels with complex lifting equipment. The associated cost and carbon footprint limits the value and environmental benefits of subsea robotics, in-turn impacting the growth of emerging ocean sectors. Although smaller Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs) have emerged as a potential solution, deploying large robots from them is not feasibleHonuWorx's project aims to create the cloud-based mission planning and monitoring platform for Loggerhead. It serves as the principal user interface for the entire system, and to assure robust over-the-horizon operation it must enable operators to plan missions intuitively and monitor the system with varying degrees of communication availabilityThe Loggerhead approach is superior to crewed and uncrewed surface vessel deployment because (1) it is a less capital intensive system, (2) offers a step change reduction in operations costs and emissions and (3) the system stays subsea during navigation and working at site, which in turn enables all-weather operation, eliminates splash-zone deployment risks and simplifies regulatory compliance.Loggerhead offers an economically viable and sustainable way to scale subsea robotic operations to support existing and emerging blue-economy sectors.By reducing the cost of subsea operations by up to 50% and removing emissions, Loggerhead supports the sustainable growth of vital sectors such as offshore renewable energy which must be profitable without subsidy and despite challenging margins. The project is an opportunity to extend the UK's leadership in the energy transition and the development of supporting robotic technologies.