Remote operation, to the moon and back

In the decade since, Fugro has established ROCs around the world. In this episode, we learn how staff in Houston, Aberdeen, Dubai and Perth are enjoying a better work-life balance, without the need to spend weeks away from home, working offshore. The move allows us to diversify the workforce and it means employees can devote more of their working time to where it will have the most impact and value for customers.

As the global network of ROCs has been rolled out, we have been developing not just remote analysis, but remote command and control, of vessels and survey vehicles, with autonomy playing an increasingly important role. This allows Fugro not only to compete for individual projects, but to offer remote operations as a service.

At sea, these developments can now shrink the climate and financial costs of performing surveys. But the concept has gone much further, with the Australian Space Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Control (SpAARC) facility now working with Intuitive Machines to bring remote operation to the moon. And this work is laying the foundation for increased use of remote operations in more mundane, earthly, applications.

Guests

• Ryan Trahan, Remote Operations Surveyor, Houston, Fugro

• Fionnuala Richard, Regional Manager Americas Remote Operations Centers, Fugro

• Vitto César, Remote Operations Centre Senior Geophysicist, Aberdeen, Fugro

• Jeff Richardson, Regional Manager Europe and Africa Remote Operations Centres, Fugro

• Ross Macfarlane, Manager, Middle East and India Remote and Autonomous Operations Resource Centre, Fugro

• Samuel Forbes, Director, The Australian Space Automation and AI Robotics Control Complex (SpAARC), Fugro

Partner

This is an Engineering Matters episode.