Energy company Woodside is working with NASA and Cisco to test various network edge techniques, as well as robotics. These techniques must be applicable to enable machines to operate in remote environments and harsh conditions. Ultimately, it is intended to use the technique even in space.
Woodside is an Australian oil and gas company that supplies six percent of the world’s LNG supply. The company has two major floating production storage and offloading facilities. Cisco was given the task of providing these facilities with a good working connection to the company’s offices on the mainland.
Without delay
Webex makes it possible for Woodside to make video calls without delay, wherever the floating facilities are located in the world. Many of our facilities are located in hostile environments hundreds of kilometres from the coast, says CTO Shaun Gregory of Woodside. NASA is working with us on trials to see the potential of these techniques before they are applied even further afield and in space.”
Woodside’s collaboration with NASA began in February 2017. NASA then lent its Anthropomorphic Robonaut System to Woodside for sixty months to explore more than 300 applications in areas such as engineering, operations and maintenance. Together, the two companies explore how the robot technology can be applied to improve safety, reliability and efficiency in the risky and remote environments where Woodside works, according to a statement made by the two companies at the time.
To the moon
While Woodside shares its cognitive technology, NASA shares its robotics expertise with the company. These are robots that are already used for simple, repetitive or even dangerous work in locations such as the International Space Station. Cisco provides the networks needed to provide the Woodside staff with internet access. These networks must be as fast as they are on the mainland.
Exactly the latter is of great importance, because ultimately this kind of technology must be applicable to any moon or Martian base that NASA wants to build in the coming decades. To this end, high-speed networks of this kind are of crucial importance and a good and reliable connection to the Earth must always be possible.
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.
8 hours ago
