The Tight-Rock Unconventional Cost Effective Lateral Surveillance (TRU-CELS) prototype robot in a test bed clear pipe.
This task aims to develop a mobile robot that obtains downhole flow information in an operating horizontal oil well. The robot combines mobility, autonomy and sensing capabilities that function in the high temperature, high pressure environment of flowing oil, water and gas. Technology development is occurring in an iterative process of analysis, design, prototyping and testing under laboratory and field conditions. The technology products produced here will be relevant to future sub-surface planetary exploration missions that require a small, power-constrained, highly autonomous robot to travel through fluid-filled caves, vents or tunnels.
