b'36 Partner News Spring 2021CorporateThales collaborates with offshore renewable energy experts in robot team challenge Dr Paul Gosling FIET, Chief Technology Officer for Thales in the UKA unique team of industry and academicdrones return the robots to the mothership,Global tech giant Thales is playing a central partners are working on a pioneering solutionwhich then sets out on a return course forrole in the project, providing the Thales to develop the worlds first fully autonomousthe shore or continues to its next mission.Halcyon unmanned robot boat which will team of robot boats, drones and robot bugsnot only transport the robotic crews, but to inspect and repair offshore wind farms. The project is called MIMRee (Multi-Platformalso continuously scan the wind turbines The project aims to prove that a robotInspection Maintenance and Repair inusing optronic technology. This data will feed mother ship can successfully sail out to theExtreme Environments) which was launchedthrough to MIMRees Brain, the mission-unforgiving environment of the wind farmsby technology developer Plant Integrity withplanning intelligence being developed by the at sea and deliver a crew of drones that willsupport from the Offshore Renewable EnergyRoyal Holloway, University of London.inspect and maintain the platform. (ORE) Catapult. The project is funded by Innovate UK under a 4m grant. The eightDr Paul Gosling, Chief Technology Officer The drones will also lift the robot bugsacademic and industry partners workingfor Thales in the UK and an IET Fellow, said: (called BladeBUGS) onto the surface andon the MIMRee project are Plant Integrity,This project is one of a range of investments they will crawl, using hyper-spectral imagingOffshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Thales,from Thales where we are working with to detect structural faults. Capable ofWootzano, the University of Bristol, theinnovation partners to explore the broader machine learning, they can decide if repairsUniversity of Manchester, Royal Holloway,applicability of our deep domain expertise in are needed and carry them out usingThe University of London and the Royalour traditional markets. bespoke robotic arms. Job complete, theCollege of Art.We have a long tradition of working with academia and other experts from industry in other projects, so this is a really collaborative effort which could have a significant environmental benefit for the UK and the world.If the project proves successful and MIMRee is adopted by the wind industry in the future, it is expected to save the average wind farm approximately 26m over the course of its lifetime.MIMRee is one of around 100 projects that ORE Catapult leads or supports. All are aimed at helping the offshore renewables sector overcome barriers and improve its operational performance.The UK Government has declared its intention that by 2030, the UKs offshore wind industry will be producing 30GW of energyabout one third of the nations electricity.'