November 23, 2014

ROBOTS TAKE OVER INSPECTION OF BALLAST TANKS ON SHIPS




Current inspections extremely dangerous and expensive. Multidisciplinary 'RoboShip' project offers great advantages

The University of Twente is one of a number of partners in the region around the border between Germany and the Netherlands that have contributed to a project to develop a robot for inspecting ballast water tanks on board ships. The robot is able to move independently along rails built into the tanks. At the moment, people still carry out such inspections, with ships being brought into dry dock for the purpose. The costs can rise to € 700,000 per inspection. The RoboShip project offers great advantages, not only in terms of cost but also in terms of safety.