PETE Drillbotics Team finished as top team in the US in Drillbotics International University Competition

Congratulations to the Petroleum Engineering Department's Drillbotics team for finishing as top team in the US and moving onto the finals in the International University Compeition!!

Sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineering, Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section (DSATS), Drillbotics® is an international competition for universities to design and build a small drilling rig that uses sensors and control algorithms to autonomously drill a rock sample provided by SPE’s Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section (DSATS).  This competition helps the team develop a deeper understanding of automating the drilling process.  The competition included teams from the Colorado School of Mines, LSU, Texas A&M and Oklahoma as well as others.

The teams objective was to design, build and operate a physical rig to drill a directional well autonomously.  This also means that teams must understand the drilling equipment, downhole dysfunctions, and mitigation strategies as well as how to build a control system with real-time algorithms.  The challenge required the team to develop a small-scale drilling rig and control system to autonomously drill a directional well following a given trajectory. Downhole sensors were mandatory, and their data had to be included in the control algorithms.  The Drillbotics committee provided certain information in advance but did not provide the actual well targets until the day of the Phase II test.

The end goal for the team was to develop a mini-rig with automated controls to drill autonomously prepare a planned well path once the target points were established. Obviously, they hit the mark!

We are so proud of you.  Congratulations!

Pictured from left to right: Jake Anderson, Tyler Voisin, and Nick Mascari.