Autonomous or Remotely-operated Maintenance of Ships’ Tanks

The US Navy has the problem of having to use human operators to inspect and maintain tanks due to the lack of systems that can perform all (or even most) of the tasks required with the dexterity, control, and ability to access tight areas. Boston Engineering proposes to leverage our extensive experience and existing technology in this area to provide a robust mobile base within a modular and versatile solution onto which rapid integration of the various and wide-ranging tools required is possible, time-saving, and easy to operate for expediting remediation tasks. Our solution minimizes the burden on the operator to enable rapid and minimal cost of user training and maximizes the use of existing high TRL technology and COTS components to provide a cost effective, risk reduced, and rapid development of a TRL 6 prototype (at end of PH II). It focuses on the main challenges (nimble and versatile implementation of maintenance tools and processes), and not on robot control, navigation, algorithms, or complex mobile-sensory concepts. We also provide a designed-in ability to advance the capability of the system over time including the ability to add additional autonomous behaviors and modular tool attachments.