Post-BP, robotics R&D returns to the well

While British Petroleum may ultimately be found responsible for the catastrophic failure of the Deepwater Horizon well, the company is not the only guilty party in the oil spill disaster. We all share the blame. The U.S. economy has been consuming an estimated 20 million barrels of oil a day for about a decade, according to data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That's nearly one-quarter of the world's total daily consumption and more than twice China's consumption of 8.2 million barrels a day in 2009.

If the Deepwater Horizon spill has resulted in 60,000 barrels of oil flowing into the Gulf a day since April 20-that's 91 days, including today-the total is equivalent to about 5.5 million barrels of oil. That's what the U.S. economy consumes about every seven hours. While we are not creating a Gulf oil spill every seven hours, our  runaway consumption nonetheless has an impact on our planet's health. Even as researchers work to make deep-water drilling safer, we all must be mindful of our consumption and take responsibility for inching our economy back from the 20 million-barrel-a-day precipice. - B.R.

Last week was a big week in the Gulf of Mexico as British Petroleum replaced the temporary containment cap over the Deepwater Horizon oil well's failed blowout preventer with a new sealing cap. According to the company, the cap could stop the flow of the oil and gas that has been gushing into the Gulf from the damaged well since the blowout preventer failed and the rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 and resulting in the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

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All the action at Deepwater Horizon is taking place 5,000 feet below the sea surface, where remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) carry out tasks for which they were not designed and until a few weeks ago lacked the tools to perform. Sitting in control rooms aboard ships a mile above are the ROVs' pilots. In crews of three, during 12-hour shifts, they manipulate the robots to make the precise repairs.

"Having watched those guys operate, I have to say that nearly every day they are performing miracles," said Andy Bowen, research specialist for applied ocean physics and engineering at the Woods Hole (Mass.) Oceanographic Institution. Bowen manages WHOI's National Deep Submergence Facility and recently returned from a trip to Deepwater Horizon.

Though they are considered state of the art, the ROVs  that BP is using for the repairs are all standard commercial vehicles. Each is connected to a surface vessel by a heavy steel-encased cable, or umbilical, that provides power and communications-typically, high-speed fiber optics-between the ROV and the on-ship control room. At the end of the umbilical, a mile below the surface, is a cage, or garage, that houses the vehicle when it is not operating. The ROV is connected to the garage by a lighter power and communications tether, typically encased in Kevlar, that enables it to operate in the vicinity of the garage.

Houston-based Oceaneering International Inc. is a leading ROV manufacturer and one of BP's primary ROV contractors at Deepwater Horizon. In addition to manufacturing its own robots, the company provides crews and ships, as well as both custom and standard ROV tools. Oceaneering machined a number of tools expressly to perform the repairs at Deepwater Horizon, according to a spokesperson.