How AI and robots will help safeguard our offshore energy infrastructure in the future

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The modern world depends on the smooth provision of vital services such as energy, transportation, telecommunications, food, water and healthcare. But the systems underpinning these sectors are increasingly complex and interdependent, interacting at a global scale – which makes them susceptible to potentially catastrophic failures when they come under stress.

The recent blackout in the UK is a good example. While relatively brief, this outage – caused by the simultaneous failure of two generators, a gas-fired plant in Barford and the Hornsea offshore wind farm – left almost 1m people in England and Wales without power and caused widespread traffic disruption.

In South America, 48m people were left without power in June after violent storms knocked out the network. In the US, the California Utility company is resorting to blackouts during high-risk periods to prevent wildfires after the recent loss of life, suggesting that the ageing electrical infrastructure was the cause of the wildfires.