One year on from the launch of MIMRee (Multi-Platform Inspection, Maintenance and Repair in Extreme Environments), the project reports breakthroughs in its quest to demonstrate an end-to-end autonomous inspect and repair mission to offshore wind farms.
MIMRee, awarded a £4.2 million grant from Innovate UK, is one of offshore wind’s most ambitious robotics project to date. The end-game is demonstration of an autonomous system capable of planning its own operational missions to offshore wind farms, whereby a mothership will scan moving turbine blades on approach, then launch teams of inspection drones carrying blade crawlers for forensic inspection and repair of damaged blades.
The Consortium reports a series of technological challenges already overcome in the first year of the two-year project, evidencing the feasibility of their vision.
The Thales imaging system has achieved blur-free images of moving wind turbine blades at the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s Levenmouth Demonstration Turbine off the coast of Fife. Scanning blades for defects, without stopping turbines for days at a time, is considered a game-changer for wind farm operations.
The MIMRee mission planning software developed by Professor Sara Bernardini of Royal Holloway University of London has been integrated with the Thales vessel and the inspection drones developed by a team from Manchester and Bristol Universities. The drones have successfully coordinated launch, recovery and navigation from the vessel.
