How AI Drones Could Replace Oil Field Pumpers

Yesterday we had the chance to interview Travis Johnson at Unmanned Operator.

He’s on a mission to create the most advanced American-Made AI drones in the oilfield, and he’s pulling off some incredible things with his team.

When saltwater pipelines spill, if it hits the surface, it's a million dollars. If you make a puddle, it just gets exponentially worse every time. That’s what we’re solving for with long-distance drones.
- Travis Johnson, Unmanned Operator

Show Notes

• AI Drones Set to Replace Oil Field Pumpers
• Labor Crisis Driving Innovation in North Dakota
• Massive Risk Reduction & Safety Benefits
• American-Made Technology Push
• Pipeline Monitoring Game-Changer

Transcript

A former North Dakota pumper turned entrepreneur is building the future of autonomous field operations, reducing risk while maximizing efficiency

Travis Johnson knows the oil patch like few others. After spending a decade as a pumper in North Dakota's Bakken formation—driving hundreds of miles daily to monitor wells across frozen prairies—he founded Unmanned Operator three years ago with a bold vision: replace human field visits with intelligent drone systems that never sleep, never miss a detail, and never risk lives on dangerous roads.

Speaking from Stanley, North Dakota, Johnson explains how his company is transitioning from traditional data acquisition to cutting-edge AI applications that could fundamentally transform how the industry monitors production sites, detects equipment failures, and manages safety risks.

Local Energy: Tell us about your background and what led you to start Unmanned Operator.

Travis Johnson: I was a pumper for about ten years before starting this company. I experienced the boom firsthand—when Williston's Walmart had nothing but rye bread left on the shelves because they couldn't stock fast enough or find enough employees. Those were wild times, but they also showed me how stretched thin our workforce was becoming.

As a pumper, you're essentially the eyes and ears of production operations. You drive from site to site, checking equipment, looking for leaks, monitoring production levels, and troubleshooting issues. In North Dakota, that meant covering 60 wells or more, sometimes driving all day from six in the morning until six at night. The truck never turns off.

Local Energy: How has Unmanned Operator evolved since its founding?

Travis Johnson: For the first three years, we've been primarily a data acquisition and processing company. We fly sites to create 2D and 3D models, map locations, and sometimes use 360 cameras so operators can virtually visit sites from anywhere in the world.

But now we're making a major transition into AI-powered autonomous monitoring systems. We're building software to support what I call the next generation of oil and gas operations—pumping sites monitored by drones instead of people having to drive those routes every day.

Local Energy: What does this autonomous monitoring system look like in practice?

Travis Johnson: We're developing two main platforms. The first is edge AI technology that runs directly on the drone in real-time, rather than sending data to the cloud. We train these systems to recognize specific equipment and issues: when the drone sees a treater building, it automatically checks temperature and looks for leaks. If everything's normal, it shows green; if there's a problem, it shows red and alerts that a pumper needs to respond.

The second platform, launching in the next few weeks, is our pad planning software. Frac and drilling crews are still planning multi-million dollar operations on notebooks, so we built an AI system that can optimize equipment placement on sites using centimeter-accurate drone mapping.

Local Energy: What advantages do these larger fixed-wing drones offer over traditional monitoring methods?

Travis Johnson: The Trump administration opened up significant opportunities for the drone industry. We're now working with 14 to 18-foot wingspan fixed-wing aircraft that can operate 9 to 15 hours daily. These aren't your consumer drones—they're serious industrial platforms built entirely in America.

The real game-changer is the data consistency. A pumper might cover 60 wells following the same route every day, which can create complacency. They might miss a belt on the ground or a small leak. Our drones collect comprehensive data on every flight, and AI can detect problems that human eyes might miss, even analyzing mechanical gauges by going deeper than individual pixels.

Local Energy: How do you see this technology addressing workforce challenges?

Travis Johnson: North Dakota consistently sits at about 2% unemployment—essentially full employment. When I started pumping, we'd cover 20 to 25 wells; by the time I left, it was 60 wells per pumper. If we keep drilling at current rates, we simply won't have enough people.

The goal isn't to eliminate pumpers but to make them more efficient. Instead of driving 200 miles daily on routine checks, they might drive 100 miles and focus on sites that actually need intervention. That's a massive reduction in road risk—probably our highest-risk activity from an insurance perspective.

Local Energy: What about pipeline monitoring, particularly for saltwater disposal?

Travis Johnson: Pipeline monitoring is probably our biggest growth opportunity. Saltwater pipelines are particularly critical because when they fail, the environmental impact is devastating. Saltwater essentially sterilizes soil for many years—if you make even a small spill, it can cost a million dollars to remediate.

Much of North Dakota's pipeline infrastructure is older poly or fiberglass material that's prone to failure. We can monitor these lines more frequently and consistently than current methods, identifying problems before they become ecological disasters, all at the same price or cheaper than traditional monitoring.

Local Energy: How do you envision this technology scaling across different types of operations?

Travis Johnson: Initially, we'll focus on heavy producers where you might need flights multiple times daily. This frees up pumpers to handle complex issues while drones manage routine surveillance. Eventually, the technology will expand to all operations.

Many companies now use centralized tank batteries with satellite locations—wells that flow to a central collection point. For these sites, it's really just about maintaining visual oversight: ensuring no leaks, confirming proper flow direction, checking that safety systems work. That's exactly what drones excel at.

The real advantage comes from predictive capabilities. When you're collecting daily data on equipment performance, you can predict failures before they happen. We can potentially diagnose issues like stuffing box seal failures by analyzing pump weights and comparing them to manufacturer specifications—all in real-time.

Local Energy: What's your vision for the next five years?

Travis Johnson: We're coming out of stealth mode now and actively pursuing funding. The technology has reached a tipping point where autonomous monitoring isn't just possible—it's economically compelling. Between reducing insurance costs, improving safety, preventing environmental incidents, and optimizing workforce deployment, the business case is clear.

We're also expanding into safety applications, developing tethered drone systems that can monitor restricted areas of frac sites continuously, alerting supervisors if unauthorized personnel enter dangerous zones.

The ultimate goal is transforming oil and gas operations from reactive to proactive. Instead of finding problems after they occur, we'll predict and prevent them. That's better for operators, better for communities, and better for the environment.

Unmanned Operator can be found at unmanned-operator.com. The company plans to release frequent content updates as their first software platform launches in the coming weeks.