Drillbotics, the international competition for universities to design and build a small drilling rig is accepting registrations for the 2021 Drillbotics Competition. The contest is annually run by the SPE’s Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section (DSATS).
This year marks the seventh competition to be held. The winning teams have a chance for sponsored travel to present a paper at the next SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and at an event organized by DSATS. The past years involved undergraduates, master’s, and doctoral students from a variety of disciplines who built innovative drilling machines and downhole tools while developing a deeper understanding of automating the drilling process.
Two categories are announced for this year: Group A will not require any rig construction; it requires a model of the rig, the well, and a directional drilling technique. Group B will build and operate a physical rig. (The Group A and B requirements are reversed from the 2020 competition. The organizers made the change due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing significant changes to university policies worldwide.)
For more information and updates, visit Drillbotics.com. Teams are encouraged to enroll to receive notification of new posts on the blog page.