Advanced Rig Technology Committee elects officers, forms work groups

• • Control Motions, which seeks to define critical control motions for key systems, including primary safety systems and control chairs. This area seeks to standardize certain critical motions, such as up or down on a lever to signify stopping a tool’s action. Currently, systems have various results for a given motion, which has the potential to create incidents in emergencies. The subcommittee will also explore the ability for users to receive true feedback from mechanized systems. The Control Motions Subcommittee will meet 2-4 pm 9 July.
• • Interface, which seeks to harmonize software interfaces: Ensuring that systems can communicate readily is a large issue. The committee agreed that any action here would be forward-looking, rather than seeking to retrofit existing gear. However, the committee will not stifle innovation. The Interface Subcommittee will meet 2-4 pm 1 July.
• • Guidelines, to develop decision matrices on when automation is appropriate and guidelines for training, HSE and operation. Numerous areas were identified to assist in decision-making and provide guidance on advanced rig equipment. The Guidelines Subcommittee will meet 2-4 pm 2 July.
• • Future Technology: Despite the strides that rig technology has already made, the committee was interested in looking at desired and possible advances in the future. The Future Technology Subcommittee meets 2-4 pm 8 July,

The full committee will meet 2-4 pm 30 September. Registration capability will soon be set up for all six meetings at the committee website: http://www.iadc.org/committees/advanced_rig_technology/index.html .

Agendas will be posted soon.

For more information, contact Mike Killalea (+1 713 292 1945; mike.killalea@iadc.org).