The ENGIE Drones & Robots Lab at CES 2019

The Drones and Robots Lab is part of CRIGEN (the ENGIE Group's R&D and Corporate Expertise Center). While the robotics business started at the end of 2016, the Drone business is older, since we started working on the subject in 2008. The goal of the Drones and Robots Lab is to provide the Group's BUs with tools that help them make improvements in security, cost and operational performance.

Let's take an example: this year we did field data collection on a Storengy site measuring 20 km2 and we were able to gather this information in a day, whereas by using "traditional" means this kind of inspection could take about thirty days. But that's not all! The inspection generated 40,000 photos and if they all had to be processed by hand the 30 days allocated would not have been enough and the solution would not have been profitable.

Beyond simply using tools like drones and robots, we work across the entire value chain. For this type of project we are working with the Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab to develop algorithms that allow us to optimize and automate treatments and therefore offer solutions that are much more efficient than current or conventional means.

What are the cases when you need to use a drone or a robot?

There are many use cases! They can involve detecting gas pipeline signalling beacons, monitoring corrosion on pylons, identifying hot spots or problems in photovoltaic plants, leaks in buried heating networks, cracks on wind turbine blades or for facility management... In short, the use cases affect virtually all of ENGIE's business lines. We are experts in using tools and sensors to capture the right raw data, but we also work in collaboration with other Labs and with companies in our ecosystem. We need CRIGEN's artificial intelligence teams to automate data processing, and we also need the Group's business experts.

Let’s take wind turbine inspections, for example. Currently, wind inspection experts often work at ground level with powerful sensors that allow them to identify and categorize defects on wind turbine blades. However, while the image quality obtained from the ground using zoom can be satisfactory, inspection takes a long time. Drones can go closer, change angles, and show more interesting details. They can even use different kinds of sensors that wouldn’t be usable from the ground. It is in the interest of CRIGEN R&D and ENGIE Research more generally to provide new technologies for the Group's BUs.

We are also working on automating systems to make autonomous drones and robots and to facilitate the use and integration of these tools within our business units. We are working to make smart drones and teaching them to recognize wind turbines and blades and to inspect the blades in succession. More generally, the Drones and Robots Lab is also developing bricks for technologies for indoor navigation.

Our goal is to put these tools in the hands of our colleagues so that they can help them on a daily basis, which is why we are working to make them easier to use and safer.

Which BUs do you already work with?

We have already supported several Bus including Ineo Infracom and our UK colleagues from ENGIE International Facility Management. We helped them identify the type of drone and associated sensor that meets their needs. We serve the role of experts and consultants within ENGIE to identify the machine that best meets the needs for data and security during implementation. In general, it is not the choice of the drone that is problematic. Instead, it’s identifying the sensor that responds to the need. It is the sensor that defines the type of platform we will install it on to collect the data.

What are your major areas of research and development today?

For this year and the years to come, the main focus of R&D is the needs of security and site monitoring. The development of surveillance systems is a priority because today these solutions do not exist at an industrial scale, whereas there is high demand and expectations within the market. We want to allow BUs to differentiate themselves from their competitors with a 100% ENGIE technology that will allow them to maintain a business advantage.

We are working on the development of fully automatic surveillance systems that can be managed by a guardian who knows how to use a supervision system. The machine is smart enough to pass on only predefined, authorized locations. We are also working on round robots, which are able to do the same thing but while rolling on the ground. We identify and categorize all possible situations for which we develop shared or collaborative surveillance solutions. If a BU wants to use drone tools or robots in the near future for monitoring sites or removing doubts, depending on what’s needed, how necessarily immediate the information had to be, we can advise them the most appropriate solution.

For example, for a site in the south of France with a lot of mistral winds, the drone will not necessarily be the most useful solution because it will not be able to fly about 30% of the time because of the wind conditions. In this case, we have to focus on the robot. If we have distances of several kilometers to go, the robot is relatively slow. Drones are much faster and so would be better. If the environment is foggy, use a robot. In short, each solution has its advantages and disadvantages, and our goal is to offer the best overall technical solution to our customers.

You also rely on external talent like the startup Aeromapper that is with you at the CES.

Yes, we develop protocol and implementation, but we do not manufacture the systems or devices. We rely on existing solutions for those. Aeromapper has developed a machine that flies very well and into which we can integrate all kinds of sensors. So we take advantage of a vector to bring our good sensor to the right place to make the right measurement.

Another strong point of Aeromapper is their aeronautical rigor. They come from the aeronautical world, which makes them to be aware of the risks on the air and ground, and therefore to avoid suggesting anything that is potentially dangerous. They are down to earth and have an approach to risk that is very close to what is done in aeronautics. For example, their machines can fly up to 15 km (out of sight of the pilot) and they have integrated a terrain model to avoid any risk of collision with the ground. Other competing solutions that are more well known do not include this model of ground control.

What does it mean for you to come to CES?

Beyond being a dream, it is a great recognition and an opportunity for us to publicize our activities at the ENGIE level. I hope the CES will allow us to highlight our activities and our role as developers of innovative solutions for various BUs. As such it is paradoxically first of all an opportunity for internal communication for us.

But we are working with partners who will also be at CES, and this will be an opportunity to reflect on future ways to work together to offer the most powerful tools.

What would be the ideal meeting for you at CES?

ENGIE is destined to become more and more established in North America. Identifying contacts in the USA to deploy our tools and achieve an operational partnership with ENGIE in the United States after the CES would be magic!

How do you see the future of drones in 2030?

I hope that in 2030 the various tools that we have developed, whether they are drones or robots, will be used daily by our colleagues, and that they will allow them to improve security, cost and operational performance.

Of course, we need to address how regulations are evolving in Europe and in other countries. We have a regulatory vision and we are developing solutions that will cover the maximum number of countries in terms of regulation.