Rokos Awards 2022: The Future of Robotic Charging and Wind Circularity

Last year Janina Branke (2019, MEng Engineering Science) completed a summer internship as a Technology Innovation Engineer at BP.

The internship involved working on two projects which supported progress in renewable energy: one developing a robotic arm for electric vehicle charging, and the other determining methods to improve the circularity of offshore wind farms.

She comments: “Humanity is currently facing its biggest challenge yet: climate change. Our sustainable energy sources, electric vehicle infrastructure and logistics must be improved to reduce the damage being done on our planet. I’m extremely grateful that the Rokos Award enabled me to make progress in the renewable energy space through my internship at BP.”

Janina worked in collaboration with the Technical University Graz on developing a prototype for a robotic arm to be used in electric vehicle charging, a project developed in response to the increasing demand for new charging stations. The robotic arm, which will detect the vehicle and its charging point and use this information to open the lid and plug in the cable, is intended to improve accessibility of charging. A demonstration of the robotic arm is available here.

Janina’s research into potential limitations and pain points will inform future improvements made to the robotic arm.

Her second research project, following a national offshore conference, involved exploring new methods to improve current and future windfarms. She says: “I decided to concentrate on creating a centralised database for the data gathered at BP’s various offshore wind sites and use this for the identification of future windfarms sites as well as for improving maintenance.” Following her internship, Janina’s idea was pursued further by the BP quantum team in Huston.

She concludes: “Overall, my time as a technology innovation engineer has been an invaluable experience and has provided me with a lot of knowledge about simulation, project planning and research. I am very thankful for the Rokos Award and I hope to continue working in the renewable energy space as it is a vitally important area of development.”

Read Janina’s full report here.

Janina’s internship was funded by the Rokos Internship Scheme which provides full funding for academic summer internships for Pembroke STEM students. Find out more here.

Janina with the BP intern group (Janina is fourth from the right, front row)