Cybernetix, Notilo Plus partner up for subsea drone inspections

Cybernetix, a Technip Energies company, has signed a strategic partnership with Notilo Plus for the deployment of subsea drone technologies in the offshore energy industry.

The collaboration agreement is the achievement of a two-year program during which both Cybernetix and Notilo Plus conducted field trials with the Seasam underwater drone, confirming its great potential to improve the efficiency and safety of diving and inspection operations, according to the companies.

Cybernetix and Notilo Plus will build upon both companies expertise in order to deliver the energy market with innovative and smart autonomous robotic solutions.

Under the agreement, Cybernetix will become the exclusive distributor of Seasam systems and associated services in the oil and gas field, as well as the industrial manufacturer of the custom series of Notilo Plus’ Seasam drones, where the company will provide advanced integration and testing capabilities.

Nicolas Gambini, CEO of Notilo Plus, said: “This partnership will accelerate the deployment of our autonomous solution in some of the most complex environments. We believe that our integrated approach, from easy data collection to predictive data analysis, is a yet missing brick for safer and more cost-effective operations and inspections in offshore fields”.

Frederic Le Fur, commercial director at Cybernetix, added: “The field trials conducted confirmed that Notilo Plus technologies had to be integrated within our offshore robotics development roadmap for the development of our multi-robot solution for offshore assets inspection and maintenance”.

The companies also informed that a team of two Cybernetix pilots equipped with two Seasam underwater drones are currently conducting the first commercial operational mission on the field in South Korea.

The aim is to supervise a critical construction step of a major offshore floating unit, where the use of divers or conventional observation-class remotely operated vehicles (ROV’s) is considered impossible, according to the partners.