The oil industry is characterized by a host of high-risk environments, ranging from extreme cold to remote sites to gas releases. "To enhance the safety of our employees, we decided to launch the ARGOS Challenge to build an Autonomous Robot for Gas & Oil Sites," explains Alain Goulois, Vice President, R&D at Total Exploration & Production.

The robot will mainly perform routine tasks, such as taking equipment pressure readings, checking the temperature of certain materials and detecting gas leaks. This very useful resource will free up operators to focus on value-added tasks. And in the event of an incident, the robot will have to supply images and data in real time. 

Total is counting on open innovation to help it meet this goal. The Challenge will attract skills and expertise from outside the company and stimulate R&D. If you're interested, the call for proposals is open to industry and researchers worldwide. You have until March 18 to submit your proposal at www.agence-nationale-recherche.fr/ARGOS-Challenge. Three to five teams will be selected in June 2014 and will receive funding for two-and-a-half years to design and build their robot.

To find out more: http://argos-challenge.com/en/content/argos-challenge-film

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