Saipem says its FlatFish underwater inspection drone has completed a key testing phase under a contract with Petrobras, allowing the project to advance toward deployment in deepwater offshore Brazil.
The company announced on March 19 that the autonomous system successfully concluded functional acceptance tests designed to verify performance before field deployment. “FlatFish, Saipem’s most advanced underwater inspection drone, has successfully completed a key phase under the contract awarded by Petrobras in 2023 for the development and testing of an autonomous robotic solution.”
According to Saipem, the tests confirmed that the system meets the required standards. “These were functional acceptance tests, executed in a controlled environment, aimed at verifying that all the functions required by the contract – from mission autonomy to data quality – meet the technical and operational standards established before deployment on the field.”
“Following the positive tests outcome, Petrobras has been able to grant approval to proceed with the final phase of the project, which aims at the full implementation of the FlatFish technology in a real offshore environment in the ultra-deep waters of Brazil,” Saipem said.
The testing campaign was carried out at Saipem’s facility in Trieste, Italy, with Petrobras representatives present.
Saipem said the drone completed several autonomous inspection tasks during the campaign. “Indeed, throughout the tests campaign the drone executed multiple fully autonomous inspection missions including structure and pipeline inspections, cathodic protection measurements, and wall-thickness assessments.”
FlatFish was developed under Saipem’s underwater robotics initiative and is able to autonomously perform complex inspections of subsea assets, thanks to the robotic technologies it incorporates from integrated artificial intelligence to advanced navigation functions.
“FlatFish, a hybrid and fully autonomous underwater inspection drone, has been developed as part of ‘Hydrone’, Saipem’s underwater robotics program aimed at industrializing a family of underwater robots capable to perform complex, autonomous inspection tasks at depths of up to 3,000 meters,” Saipem said.
Petrobras’ deepwater exploration program offshore Brazil has been driven by the development of large discoveries in the country’s offshore basins, particularly in the pre-salt province, which accounts for the majority of the company’s production.
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Saipem’s FlatFish autonomous underwater drone supports this push.
“In this context, the long-term partnership with Petrobras provides valuable contributions to the final development stages of a strategic capability in the energy offshore industry,” Saipem said.
