The Autonomy Journals
The Autonomy Journals showcase leading voices, sharing insights, learnings, lessons and perhaps some confessions from the Autonomy Journey in transport and mobility.
SAMS, a private, non-profit innovation cluster for sustainable, autonomous mobility solutions, host the podcast.
The Autonomy Journals
Redefining Maritime Innovation: Camilla Nylund from OptiLift on Autonomous Cranes and Future Mobility
Discover how OptiLift is redefining the future of autonomous crane technology with Camilla Nylund, their visionary Managing Director. As we chart the company's journey from a 2009 project to a trailblazer in maritime innovation, you'll gain insights into their groundbreaking work alongside Palfinger to unveil the first autonomous crane in 2027. Camilla sheds light on her remarkable career shift from logistics and oil and gas to leading OptiLift, sharing the pivotal moments that shaped her path. Moreover, this episode uncovers how OptiLift's sensor technology is not just confined to offshore environments but holds potential for ports, terminals, and even space exploration.
Join us as we tackle the compelling world of autonomy in the maritime industry, examining the exciting potential these technologies hold for enhancing efficiency, safety, and sustainability. You'll learn about the challenges of integrating autonomous systems in human-operated environments and the cultural shifts necessary for broader acceptance. With a particular focus on Norway's leadership, we delve into the evolving landscape of regulations and mindset shifts that are crucial for embracing these innovations. This episode offers a window into the future of autonomous mobility, with examples of Norwegian companies leading the charge in shaping tomorrow's transport systems.
The Autonomy Journals showcase leading voices, sharing insights, learnings, lessons and perhaps some confessions from the Autonomy Journey in transport and mobility.
Subscribe to the Autonomy Journals and join us next time as we continue exploring how Norway leads the way in autonomous mobility solutions. Because in Norway, we do it.
SAMS is a private, non-profit innovation cluster for sustainable, autonomous mobility solutions and the host of the podcast.
we're enabling the first autonomous crane in the world, so I think Norway is very well positioned for maritime autonomy.
Arild:Hello and welcome to the Autonomy Journals podcast brought to you by SAMS, the Norwegian Innovation Cluster for Autonomous Mobility and Transport Systems. Autonomy In Norway we do it. We are your hosts, Eja and Aril.
Eja:I'm leading the Norwegian Innovation Cluster for Sustainable Autonomous Mobility Systems.
Arild:And I'm the founder of a small company in the mobility space, Kobla.
Eja:The Autonomy Journals is aimed at inviting you into the autonomous universe of new ideas, innovation, great progress and feedback.
Arild:Translating visions and complexities, one interesting conversation at a time, and we'll offer links and resources to autonomy sites and news in the credits.
Eja:Welcome to this episode of Autonomy Journals, and today we have a very special guest. We have the Managing Director, Camilla Nylund from OptiLift. Welcome, Camilla.
Camilla:Thank you very much.
Eja:I would like to start our discussion by you describing us about OptiLift. How did it start?
Camilla:OptiLift started as a project in 2009 and it became a company in 2010. So our founder, Torbjörn Engedahl. He had a background of robotics and vision technology and he saw the opportunity within lifting and handling offshore and how he could make operations safer.
Eja:And offshore is of course a big business in Norway.
Camilla:It is indeed, yes. So he started with an original idea where he wanted to detect people in the lifting area, went knocking on the door to the technical authority for crane and lifting at the time in BP and presented his idea, and then he was challenged with something else instead, with the measurement of deck velocity to extend the weather window for lifting operations, and that led to us developing our sensor technology. That is now the core in everything we do, in all the software applications that we have launched since then, and it's also the core technology in enabling autonomous lifting operations.
Eja:So OptiLift is about autonomous lifting operations offshore.
Camilla:It was in the beginning. So I started the company in 2013. Since then, it was our mission to enable autonomy within logistics operations in uncontrolled environments, and it was a rocky start to begin with. I did spend the first few years doing technology and missioneering. At the time, the industry wasn't really ready for autonomy. Meanwhile, we did continue to develop our technology. D elivering the first autonomous crane in 2027, together with Palfinger, who is developing and delivering the actual crane, and where we are developing the software algorithms, the assistance systems that will be integrated to the control system. But this technology can also be utilized in other areas, for example, ports and terminals. We've already started that work, but it can also be introduced to even other business areas like construction or mining or rescue, search and rescue. It has really no limits.
Eja:Now I'm thinking if it started from offshore, it's coming to land with the ports and terminals and can be used even in mines. Can it be used in space?
Camilla:Well, the core technology, potentially, can I mean it just requires, requires access, I must say.
Eja:Just need to give a call to Elon Musk.
Camilla:Yeah, yeah, feel free to call us.
Eja:You have an interesting journey into autonomy, as Camilla tell us about it.
Camilla:My career started within logistics and the very beginning in DHL within business development. I moved on to the oil and gas industry within HR and I was working for operators or establishing international operators on the Norwegian continental shelf. For a few years I was headhunted into the technology business Tandberg and then we were bought by Cisco. I do have this, I think, a genuine interest for technology that I didn't really know about in the beginning. Some of our top managers started working for a venture company and they called me and asked me to consider OptiLift, become the managing director there. So I was a bit reluctant at the time. I was thinking "crane?" Well, I don't have a background within Crane, so I do a bit reluctant.
Camilla:e I was thinking crane well, I don't have a background within cranes, I do have a background within business development and building businesses but I did go to the interview in Kristiansand and I really just loved the technology, because I do really love changing the way we work and optimizing the way we work and using technology to do so, and so that's how I ended up working in a company that enables autonomy. But it was surprising even to me.
Eja:You have a lot of industry, it high technology and working with logistics with high tech. What is the typical industry challenges and where are the potentials?
Camilla:For the oil and gas industry. It is efficiency and margins, and also, I think we're now more and more so moving into unmanned installations. And how can we work in unmanned installations in a way that makes sense? And that is also why ACO BP is investing in autonomy within offshore lifting operations for unmanned installations. I think when you move people away from the lifting zone, the HSE impact is immense should maybe be the reason why we're doing it, and then the efficiency gain. It's just an extra plus, not to mention impact on CO2 emissions how we can optimize the way we work, increase efficiency to reduce the emissions. That is, I think, the way of the future for oil and gas industry, for ports and terminals and for any industry, including construction.
Eja:Because emissions are going to be also not only a question of conscience, but they're going to be very expensive in the very near future.
Camilla:Indeed. Yes, one of the hardest challenges is the margins, and to improve the way they work and to increase efficiency will have a huge impact, particularly for ports and terminals.
Eja:I'm also thinking, when it comes to ports and terminals, that many of them have increasing volumes, indeed, yes, and the areas where they can operate is not increasing. Then comes the question how can you increase the capacity without making it bigger?
Camilla:Maybe even you could achieve that by utilizing less resources and you could handle more volume with the same or less
Eja:resources and people would work differently. They wouldn't necessarily be out of work but. they
Eja:Yo u work differently in AKER BP project , comfortable control rooms and things would work Palfinger more autonomously. AKER
Eja:There would definitely Palfinger be less of a wind and rain in the control room than Optilift out on the actual port. Yes, that's true. And also less risk for accidents and for yeah, back injuries so you told us about the akbp project and the cooperation that you have with palafinger. You are doing the autonomy. When these signals are integrated into and palafinger is doing the crane, then the and it's done for akbp oil and gas industry in the offshore. What is it it concretely? Can you describe it more? P B
Camilla:Yes. So Pelfinger, they are It's will deliver the new cranes. And Optolift provides the technology for perception and assistance systems and autonomy. So the algorithms for auto-landing, auto-lift-off, relative heave compensation, anti-pendulum, anti-collision for people, anti-collision for boom, all of these features put together does offer the opportunity of autonomy, the control system of the crane. Then we can in the future make it autonomous. So the first target is for it to be remotely controlled and after some time it will become a fully autonomous crane that we, together with Palfenker, will deliver to Lager BIP.
Eja:And 2027 was the year. Yeah, it's not far away.
Camilla:It must be said we've done this for more than a decade already, so we've had some time. ?
Eja:Different areas sounds very exciting. Thank you, the technology that you are developing for that. Where else can it be applied Different? .
Camilla:areas, but particularly ports and terminals, where we have already started, and our journey when it comes to autonomous port operations is not very old. We've only just started, but we will bring the technology and the experience from offshore to this industry
Eja:the way that we started in the oil and gas industry, with developing perception and digitalization and launching these and enabling the benefits while we tackle the machine control and autonomy. This is the approach we will also. use
Eja:for ports and terminals, and digitalization itself will enable autonomy on a non-machine level by having automatic?
Camilla:digitalization and gathering of data, the container location, their id. With that you can achieve autonomous planning and harvest huge efficiency gains immediately while getting ready for autonomous machine control.
Eja:So if I would now have a port of my own and I would like to ? start
Eja:And digitalization. Indeed, it would. Is that complicated or takes a lot of time and resources? It is already an available technology from our point of view, the sensory technology that we have, we can gather the data of the port the container location and we can provide a digital twin of the area If it is a complicated and complex project, taking a lot of resources, to digitalize my port.
Camilla:No, it is not a complex operation. It can be initiated immediately. But our point of view, ports, they already have the sensor technology for ports and terminals and also the . And, and so that can be implemented and the efficiency gain be harvested quite soon. And also from there we can do a step-by-step approach towards machine control. And I must say say we would prefer to start with retrofitting our equipment to existing machines to avoid huge upfront investments and thus enabling improved margins while we start the autonomy journey.
Eja:So step-by-step approach. The first one is digitalization, and then is to retrofit, and then and then we would be able to do machine control.
Camilla:Yes, maybe in the future, the forklifts and the cranes would be autonomous from the very beginning. We don't have to wait for that. We can start now. What is the benefit of autonomous operations in a port? I would like to start with the benefits of digitalization because, some ports haven't really come as far as others.
Camilla:I mean, we do have Rotterdam and Shanghai. Those are fully autonomous, but small and medium sized ports. They even have a way to go, most. A nd of digitalizing their operations, and with that you could achieve increased margins, increased efficiency, you could allow as we talked about before greater volumes with the same or less resources and reduced CO2 emissions, and the same goes for autonomy. Really, it would just be an even bigger impact.
Eja:It enhances the digitalization.
Camilla:Indeed.
Eja:Most of the ports of the world are small or medium size, even though they might not handle the biggest volume, but in pieces they are most, and many of the small ports have a town that has grown around them originally, and the operations of the port affect the people living there, not working in the port. How does autonomy affect people around the near vicinity of a port?
Camilla:So autonomy, both, I think, within ports and terminals and also offshore, does allow for the optimized cargo handling. It would be in the same way all the time, so I think there would be less noise, or pollution, as they say, pollution by noise. There would be less general pollution emissions because the machines would run in the most optimized route. There would also be less need for external lights, but also the gains of having a more fluent operation. It would just run more fluently because you know where all the cargo is. There are so many challenges with import operations, variations, ships are cancelled or delayed, the volumes aren't as expected, greater or less than expected, and handling this just requires a lot of resources and we would allow for 24-7 operations, but with less impact on the environment around and with optimized logistics, and you would also be able to do more in a smaller space.
Eja:What are the obstacles moving forward with this technology that Optravis offers?
Camilla:Technical are indeed challenges from themselves. To implement safe , it requires huge investments, both in time, effort and capital. Another challenge is how to deal with humans in relation to autonomous machines and mixed traffic. That is both a technical challenge but also a regulatory challenge, and I think it is the first runners that needs to work with the regulatory bodies and perform the so-called heavy lifts of establishing new and adapted set of regulations now that the technology is gradually there.
Eja:Yes there a difference between the different industries that you operate in?
Camilla:There is differences because offshore, for unmanned installations, it's more controlled environments, even though weather-wise it . is ports and terminals there are more challenges with the mixed traffic of people in the area and in that sense uncontrolled mixed traffic is mentioned. So yes, there is a difference.
Eja:The variation safety, it is definetely is enormous From one port to another. You mean yes?
Camilla:Yeah, that's true, and depending on the location and whether it be a remote location or near cities where there could be sort of bystanders. And that is also why it takes time to implement this technology and why we need to do the step-by-step approach.
Eja:So the key benefits for this technology? When it comes to port and terminals, the key benefits would be it's definitely safety.
Camilla:It's definitely improved efficiency. Do more with less resources, improved planning, yeah, and reduced margins.
Eja:What do you put into improved safety? We're very clear that . B ut biggest benefit that comes.
Camilla:We do have anti-collision systems that controls the machine. So anti-collision for people, anti-collision for obstacles, that is a very important feature. But also when ports and terminals are most efficient, you do have a greater overview of the location of it could be dangerous goods and the other kinds. So you do have an extra set of eyes and ears of the area with the sensing technology and extra sensors. So I've had a look at the accidents that has been within parts and terminals over the years and what we see is that I think it's about 80% of the situations are caused by human error. So the machine doesn't get tired, the machine doesn't have a bad day at work or didn't have an argument in the morning and it is persistent and it sees the same things every single day. So you have more continuance in the operations than we do with humans.
Eja:Are there regulation obstacles that are hindering the implementation? sort u
Camilla:You mention that the oil and gas industry is adapting and developing a need for new technology and that Norway, of course, it is a big industry that drives innovation. But how, in general, in the oil and gas sector, it seems to be definitely the industry that is the front runner. Also then sort of the regulations, but as the technology now is more apparent around us, both within the car industry and other, it also will affect the rules sets and regulations that we need to deal with.
Eja:Do you see that the regulations would differ geographically? Are there places that would be easier to go and implement the solutions?
Camilla:Well, there are some places in the world where it is easier, but I must say that I think our part of the world is more what should I say? Prone to use technology, where we've had a sector within the oil and gas industry that has been frontrunners for a long time utilizing new technologies. So, even if there are other locations of the world which sort of regulatory-wise would enable us to use the technology, the acceptance of new technology is by far very great.
Eja:here in particularly Norway is by far very great here in particularly Norway. I've heard you now mention that oil and gas as an industry is a frontrunner in adapting and developing a need for new technology and that Norway of course in oil and gas industry it is a big industry and drives innovation in that. But how in general would you position Norway in this autonomy part?
Camilla:example with relation to autonomy and maritime industry. I think Norway is already in the lead. Examples of this are companies like Haik, who develops smart electric and . future autonomous ferries and Maritime Robotics, who has a navigation system or autonomous navigation system, enabling vessels to autonomously navigate in coastal areas and open seas, and Seabus is an example, and even ourselves in OptiLift Optilift we're enabling the first autonomous crane in the world. So I think Norway is very well positioned for maritime autonomy.
Eja:So anyone needing a maritime autonomous solution just give a call to Norway.
Camilla:I think so.
Eja:What in my experience, is a bit conservative business To change it fundamentally from the way it's been done since the horse and carriage systems. What is the challenge there when you want to change the habits? What have you met during your years in Uplift?
Camilla:I do agree that they are conservative. What I have experienced is probably a lack of belief that it's even possible and a lack of understanding that we're already there, and I do think that there was also a different perspective of technology with the more mature generation compared to the younger generation that sort of grew up with this technology.
Camilla:I think there is a reason why the first autonomous crane is what should I say? Taken in . What for unmanned installations. confession, Camilla installations are normally unmanned anyway, so we don't really have to deal with changing the way people think. It's hard enough, changing the way we work, and I think that getting used to it over time, learning the benefits over time from these unmanned installations, will give us sort of a gradual familiarization and less hesitance in using the technology. And meanwhile, as we see sort of autonomy coming closer in what should I say?
Eja:environments, with the cars becoming more, autonomous and buses and it's becoming closer, so while this happens simultaneously and makes it easier, I think, what would you describe are the risks when applying and starting this journey for the companies applying?
Camilla:Initially, like Managing decade ago when we started, there was probably more of a technical risk. We have come very far since then. I think the risk is mainly maybe both now and then that it takes more time and it requires more capital than expected, and that's just the way of technology development, I think that goes for most projects of this scale, for most projects of this scale.
Eja:I have one final question to you, camilla, and it is one we ask from all our guests what is your autonomy confession?
Camilla:Camilla. Well, I must say I have decided to invest in a robotic vacuum cleaner. I am a cat owner and I do have teenagers in the house, and it would save me probably 15 or 20 minutes a day, and not to mention the discussions I have with my teenagers regarding whose turn it is to vacuum the house. So I think that must be my confession for today.
Eja:Camilla Nylund, managing Director from OptiLift. Thank you very much for being our guest today and sharing how OptiLift works with autonomous lifting operations offshore and in ports, and terminals.
Camilla:Thank you.
Arild:To our listeners. Thanks so much for tuning in. Join us again for the next episode of the Autonomy Journals brought to you by SAMS, the Norwegian Innovation Cluster for Autonomous Mobility and Transport Systems. Autonomy In Norway we do it.
Eja:We are looking forward to sharing the next episode with you. If you like the sound of this, please subscribe to the podcast and follow the Autonomy Journals on Spotify and other channels. We'd love to hear from you. Tell us what you'd love to hear more about around autonomy, because in Norway we do it.