DI G ITAL TR AN S FOR MATION
Seadrill has worked with Brazilian technology developer Altave on installing the Altave Harpia PPE detection and red-zone
monitoring system on its three drillships working offshore Brazi l, including the West Tellus. Using cameras installed at high-
traffic areas such as the pipe deck , the footage captured is processed by AI and machine learning algorithms within the
system to detect the absence of PPE among rig personnel. The driller is alerted if the system detects such an absence.

to potentially cause severe vibrations – the thresholds for “rough
drilling” depend on the rig and the formation being drilled – it dis-
plays a red placard on a monitor in the driller’s cabin and sounds
an alarm alerting the driller to clear the rig floor. If that alarm goes
past a predetermined period of time, another alarm will call for
an inspection of the traveling equipment and mast to identify any
potential issues requiring intervention.

“ Even though we may not be able to eliminate rough drilling,
we can prevent the exposure by ensuring our employees are
aware of the hazard and stay off the rig floor during these activi-
ties. We have to keep our employees’ safety in mind and remove
those exposures,” Mr Lennox said.

The Rough Drilling App was launched in 2021 and is currently
available on all H&P rigs.

Monitoring for absence of PPE
Over the past year, Seadrill has deployed three of its drillships
to Petrobras’ Búzios field offshore Brazil for exploration work: the
West Carina and West Tellus in September 2022 and the West
Jupiter in February this year. For all three rigs, both operator and
contractor agreed to install Altave Harpia, a Brazil-developed PPE
detection and red zone management system that alerts drillers of
potential accident risk in the red zone.

The technology utilizes computer vision to interpret data
gathered from six cameras connected to terminals, which are
hardware systems that handle the input and output of data . The
cameras are installed on the pipe deck, rig floor and the riser
deck – all high-traffic areas with a lot of moving equipment. AI
and machine learning algorithms built into the software are used
to detect the absence of PPE on people located within a red zone.

In case that is detected, the software sends an alert to the driller,
who can then decide on an appropriate course of action. Besides
a pop-up alert in the driller’s cabin, alerts can also be seen on
monitors installed at the bridge, the companyman’s office, the
toolpusher’s office, deck pusher’s office, HSE office and at each
crane located on the rig.

A camera-based system like Altave Harpia allows Seadrill
to have better granularity in analysis compared with previous
monitoring systems. This can improve monitoring efficiency, Mr
McConomy said, as it minimizes the errors derived from human
interpretation of data.

“Because the camera system is powered by AI, it’s an efficient
tool for detecting and managing safety issues in real time and for
sending alerts to prevent accidents. Machine vision with AI is
what’s allowing for certain patterns to be automatically detected,
like differentiating a hand with gloves from one without, or deter-
mining if a person is in the red zone. Tracking and trending com-
mon alerts provides us with simple opportunities to improve our
operations planning,” he said.

While Seadrill has not released any safety metrics from the
Brazil rigs, Mr McConomy said he’s confident that computer
vision technology will become an important tool in the driller’s
safety toolbox.

“I’m a firm believer that cameras will play a huge role as the
sensors of the future. We’re just scratching the surface of their
capabilities and the technological advancements in not only cam-
era quality but also processing power. Brazil is currently our test
bed for this particular technology, but the quality of the system
is continuously improving. We could benefit from standardizing
this system across our rig fleet,” he said. DC
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