Henry R. Drayton
Hardware & Integration Engineer
U.S. / AUS Dual Citizen
The Royal College of Art (MA)
Innovation Design Engineering 2026
Imperial College London - Thesis Project
London
2026
PROTEUS is my Master's thesis project. An ROV-deployable intervention tool for corrosion detection, surface preparation and protective coating application on offshore steel structures including monopiles, pipelines and platform legs. Currently iterating on the first land-based proof of concept from lessons learned. The system targets a $12B offshore corrosion protection market where the primary repair method is still a diver with a grinder and a bucket of epoxy.
Technical: 5mm geared steel gantry test rig with corten steel pipe section at representative scale. Four independent motor axes: grinder positioning, grinder spin, painting drum, and corrosion detection traverse. Geared DC torque motors to drive ring rack with worm gear high-speed motor for grinding drum with abrasive flap disc. Custom airless surface-fed two-pack epoxy roller coating drum. Operator interface for controlling the robot. Swerve module wheels for omnidirectional traverse, suspension locking system for surface conformity on curved steel, and position mapping for automated treatment zone targeting.
Technical: 5mm geared steel gantry test rig with corten steel pipe section at representative scale. Four independent motor axes: grinder positioning, grinder spin, painting drum, and corrosion detection traverse. Geared DC torque motors to drive ring rack with worm gear high-speed motor for grinding drum with abrasive flap disc. Custom airless surface-fed two-pack epoxy roller coating drum. Operator interface for controlling the robot. Swerve module wheels for omnidirectional traverse, suspension locking system for surface conformity on curved steel, and position mapping for automated treatment zone targeting.