"OSIRIS is a highly innovative robotic solution for the detailed inspection of offshore wind turbine blades. It alleviates the risks imposed on workers, who typically carry out this task manually under hazardous conditions.

OSIRIS combines the best features of drones and climbing robots, without their notable limitations. Drones offer flexible stand-off inspection, but their utility is limited by an inability to achieve secure contact with structures, ruling out contact-based Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) techniques capable of resolving sub-surface damage. Climbing robots offer constant contact with the target structure, but access to turbine blades requires placement and retrieval by a human, obviating the risk alleviation benefits. OSIRIS operates as both a drone and a climbing robot, with an ability to transition between the two modes, and therefore offers the benefits of each without the inherent limitations. OSIRIS can operate in close proximity to a turbine blade to obtain high definition stand-off imagery, attach and transition to climbing mode for contact based NDT, and then detach and return to drone mode.

This 21-month demonstrator project brings together robotics specialist Autonomous Devices with end user Wood (a major provider of products and services to the oil and gas, power generation, clean energy, chemical, petrochemical and manufacturing sectors), materials and NDT expert The Welding Institute, and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (as a demonstration partner providing access to an experimental 7MW offshore turbine at Levenmouth). Although our innovation targets the offshore wind turbine blade inspection application, there is real potential to read the technology across to adjacent markets. The global nature of all anticipated markets means that OSIRIS has high export potential."