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Robots To Control Oil Drilling Platforms
Roland Piquepaille writes "In 2015, and if everything goes well, oil drilling platforms located offshore Norway will be controlled by robots. Even today, these platforms don't use many people. But the idea behind the new platform concept is to install large modular process sections in unmanned areas to allow access by one or more robotic manipulators. In a few years, operators should be able to remain on land and to remotely control the oil drilling platforms. Obviously, this should reduce risks and costs. Tests have already started in a new laboratory in Trondheim. According to the plans, the researchers have 8 years in front of them to deliver the robotic tools able to control these very expensive platforms. But read more for additional references and pictures."
Watch a season of Deadliest Catch and get back to us with your revised automation estimate. Granted the ship size is different, but when things go Charlie Foxtrot on the high seas you need not so automatic-able judgement call decisions made - and good luck getting a helo on a pitching and rolling ship.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
From TFA:
Obviously, this should reduce risksReduce it for whom? Why is it that nobody ever thinks about the robots??
c++;
Either way, I'm about as scared of terrorists as I am of the roving angry bands of pedophiles that roam the countryside. There's no global conspiracy; every single terrorists attack has had very real and very local causes. In my humble opinion the 'too much generalization is as dangerous as too little' proverb is as apt for understanding society as it is for programming.
"" How about taking the safety labels off everything, and let the stupidity-problem solve itself? """
You know these guys are some of the best paid non-executive people in the world, Right?
And that nobody forces them to do it, Right?
Making their job illegal would only piss them and make some silly holier-than-thou people more happy because the world would be a better place (tm)
And while you're at it, why not forbid people making other dangerous things, like... you know being cops or soldiers.
> Maybe not criminals, but millions of gallons of unprotected oil could attract quite a number of terrorists wishing to cause an ecological disaster
You mean greanpeace?
There are various stories of North Sea Oil platforms which were designed to be "remote controlled" but ended up being manned. Its pretty hard when you have a some conflicting gauge readings and you want someone go check. Eventually it is cheaper to man the platform rather than try to find someone to go out, learn the plant, and check those conflicting readings. Humans are very flexible and good at adjusting to a system that does not operate exactly as planned.
I am reminded of a story my Dad told me from when he used to maintain radio equipment for drillers operating in the desert in the Middle East. He used find that the power supplies for the Radios were burnt out, and usually the output power valves were blown.
Eventually he found out that when the drilling rig was sticking, ie the bit had hit something hard and couldn't turn, the Toolpusher would go and increase the voltage on the camps inverter, so that instead of 240Vac, you would have around 300Vac. This would give the drill motor enough power to get the bit turning again, but of course blow all the comms equipment.
The driller is a different type of animal to the computer geek in my experience, and he speaks a totally different language, so it will be interesting to see how the computer controlled drilling system copes with , for example, when "greedy drillers create wooly sheep which block the shark hoses", as I read in our toolpushers report while I was fixing his PC yesterday (yes worked through Christmas Day).