41 JANUARY 2023 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Students Win Drillbotics Competition for Virtual and Physical Rig Designs Adapted from Information by Society of Petroleum Engineers Drillbotics is an international competition for universities to design and build a small drilling rig with sensors and control algorithms to autonomously drill a rock sample provided by Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section. The latest competition offered teams a choice between building a physical rig or virtual model, and winners from both groups were selected. Students from the University of Stavanger (UiS) won the Group A competition and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) won the Group B competition. Group A - In this group, teams created a virtual rig model to drill a virtual directional well. They provided automation and control algorithms similar to their physical counterparts, including rig actions and responses, and bit/bottomhole assembly interactions with the well bore while monitoring performance of the drill string and rig. Teams were given targets immediately before the start of the contest and had to autonomously calculate the optimum well path. The UiS team created a model of a full-scale rig to drill a directional well through multiple targets. Group B - In this group, teams designed, built, and operated a physical rig to drill a directional well autonomously. Teams were required to understand the drilling equipment, downhole dysfunctions, and mitigation strategies, as well as how to build a control system with real-time algorithms. The NTNU team built and operated a physical rig to drill a directional well through multiple downhole targets. They also created a digital twin of their rig to tune and develop their control models. Norwegian University of Science and Technology Drillbotics Team, Group B winner. University of Stavanger Drillbotics Team, Group A winner. Photos courtesy of SPE Young Member Engagement Committee. G&O
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