The future of marine operations: Robots that organize themselves

Imagine AI-controlled robots that organize themselves into different groups, or across groups—and that reorganize themselves and make new plans when needed. This kind of flexibility can enable robots to effectively solve different types of tasks as a team.

Command, control, communication and analysis are done in a network to carry out missions determined by human operators. And the tasks they perform are far beyond what individual robots can achieve.

A paradigm shift

Autonomous robotic organizations (ARO) can also solve tasks far beyond what traditional robotic systems can deliver. They will be able to respond with an agility that allows them to adapt to changes in assignments and needs. ARO will make it possible for robots to reach new levels of independence.

By combining and integrating capabilities from different platforms, like autonomous underwater robots (AUVs), uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs), uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and small satellites with customized payloads, it is believed that ocean and offshore industries are facing a paradigm shift.

This shift will apply to everything from data harvesting and inspection, to maintenance and repair (IMR), as well as security and defense.

To achieve these advancements, AROs must be equipped with sophisticated cooperative skills, advanced control capabilities, and resilience both as individuals and as heterogeneous robot teams. These teams will operate seamlessly across space, air, sea surface, and underwater environments.

Tested in Svalbard

In 2022, what is known as the observation pyramid, with a research satellite included, was tested for the first time in Svalbard. This is where researchers use small satellites, subsea robots and everything in between to make simultaneous observations and measurements.

Previously, there had been several successful tests with various combinations of underwater robots, surface vessels and aircraft carried out in collaboration with national and international partners.

The list of participants is long: Equinor, the energy company; FFI, the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment; SINTEF, Scandinavia’s largest independent research institute; UiT, the Arctic University of Norway; UNIS, the University Center in Svalbard; NORCE Norwegian Research Institute; NIVA, the Norwegian Institute for Water Research and NGU, the Geologic Survey of Norway and others have been closely involved in the research.

But the launch of NTNU’s first research satellite in 2022 made this observational pyramid complete.

The observation pyramid is based on the use of different robot platforms to focus on the same time and place to survey an ocean area: Autonomous underwater robots, an uncrewed surface vessel, an autonomous flying drone and NTNU’s research satellite that collects ocean data were in operation.

The observation pyramid operates from below sea level and all the way out into space, but all the platforms have the same goal. The goal of the operation in Svalbard was to map the spring bloom of algae in Kongsfjorden.

Now, the researchers are going a step further.

Faster, cheaper and more efficient

Experts are seeing a shift from operations with only a few platforms, or swarms operating together, to what they call a system of systems (SoS). It’s a new way of organizing work tasks.

Combining coordinated use of various existing sensor platforms for fast and efficient execution of tasks is more future-oriented than spending a lot of time and money on tailoring individual resources with complex capacities.

Interaction means that different robot platforms in an ARO can do things that each individual robot would not be able to do alone.

Autonomous robotic organizations will be able to make observations over large ocean areas at a fraction of the cost compared to traditional vessel-based systems.

They will have advanced collaboration skills, control capacity and robustness—both as individual robots and as a total system composed of different robot teams operating in space, in the air, on the sea surface and underwater.

Two decades of field work

The work is based on years of research in collaboration between NTNU, Equinor and the University of Porto, together with leading research partners in Europe and the US. Their vision is presented in the journal Science Robotics.

The team has more than two decades of experience in creating and deploying command and control systems for unmanned operations in the Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific, as well as the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas.

For NTNU, this is a result of the innovation in cross-cutting research centers such as NTNU AMOS, NTNU VISTA CAROS, SFI HARVEST and several other related projects.

In Norway, Equinor is a driving force for this technology along with research communities at NTNU and other groups that work with environmental mapping, monitoring and inspection, operation and maintenance of offshore installations.

In Portugal, Professor João Sousa is in the driver’s seat for several major programs in marine research and security under the auspices of NATO.

The goal is to develop the autonomous robot organizations of the future that make it possible to scale up and support technological development for a safer society.

Aiming high

The findings are supported by research projects, industrial innovations, and field work for both marine research and industrial applications.

In this ambitious endeavor, the team aimed high. They sought to take risks, push boundaries, be groundbreaking, transcend barriers with an interdisciplinary approach, and go into the unknown.

Equinor has already implemented several robotic solutions into their offshore operations in mapping and monitoring ocean ecosystems and for inspection of offshore infrastructure.

AROs should deliver significant benefits to users, including reduced cost, enhanced mission effectiveness, faster response times, improved quality, as well as improved system resilience.

Although the current focus is on marine operations, they foresee that AROs, once implemented, could revolutionize a broader array of applications in society.