SENSIBLE

Project at a glance

SENSIBLE stands for Symbiotic tEleoperatioN for Safe and cost-efficient wInd turBine bLade maintEnance. It is a research collaboration project funded by Innovation Fund Denmark through the Grand Solutions program. The project aims to leverage state-of-the-art robotics and AI to revolutionize the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of the wind industry.

As offshore wind energy development progresses rapidly for sustainable and reliable green energy, e.g., in the North Sea, offshore wind turbines are usually located in deeper waters where there are more abundant wind resources. Compared to onshore wind turbines, the offshore ones are larger and higher, and require more frequent inspection and maintenance in harsher environments to guarantee high energy production efficiency.

Currently, relying on human technicians is not a sustainable solution to the O&M of a large number of wind turbines in offshore wind farms. In this project, we introduce the use of robotic teleoperation for sustainable and cost-effective maintenance of the blades of offshore wind turbines. With the teleoperation technology, human technicians are replaced by teleoperated robots to perform high-risk and challenging maintenance tasks of the wind turbine blades, e.g., leading edge repair and drain hole cleaning tasks. Human technicians are trained to operate the teleoperation system from a central control station to teleoperate the remote robot on a blade. Maintenance costs can be significantly reduced, and the ergonomics of the working environment can be improved, thereby eliminating the need to work at height.

Robotic teleoperation is a game-changer for the O&M of the wind industry to enable more sustainable and cost-effective O&M, which is particularly crucial for offshore wind farms that require regular and usually expensive maintenance if human technicians have to be used. In addition, robotic teleoperation can be easily extended to the O&M of other critical assets of the wind industry.