World-first pipeline technology which will revolutionise performance and safety in industries around the world will feature at a robotics conference this month.

The development of the first ever Friction Stir Welding Robotic Crawler, known as FSWBot, for internal repair and refurbishment of pipelines, is designed to transform the way industries deal with pipeline issues.

Led by Forth Engineering which has bases at Flimby and Barrow, the project has been attracting attention from around the world after being showcased in Aberdeen in November.

The pioneering technology will feature in a presentation at a Transformative Robotics for Industries day at the fourth Annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers UK and Ireland Robotics and Automation Society Chapter Conference held at the University of Manchester on January 22.

A presentation will also take place at a major conference in Amsterdam next month and at the Friction Stir Welding International Symposium in Japan in May.

Peter Routledge, Forth Engineering project manager, said: “We are getting a lot of interest from across the globe. Interest is really building, including from Saudi Arabia, America, Canada, France and Spain.”

The project, sponsored by Innovate UK, seeks to integrate several technologies onto a robotic system which can be deployed to conduct repairs on pipelines without the need for the pipeline to be closed down for the duration of the repair.

The project received funding from UK Innovate in 2018 for a consortium led by Forth Engineering to develop a ‘proof of concept’ system.

Forth Engineering is working with consortium members TWI, J4IC, Innvotek and LSBU on the project.

Mark Telford, managing director of Forth, said: “As a company we have developed a worldwide reputation for developing a range of robotic solutions for use in harsh environments.

“The tools we have developed over the years have been for, and used by, Sellafield, to successfully solve challenges in the nuclear industry so our technology is tried and tested."