OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE
We are thrilled about this industry-wide impact to improve the safety and efficiency of operations in oil & gas and chemicals through our robotic solution,” says Péter Fankhauser, CEO. Te company says that customers intend deploying 300+ units during the next few years. To ensure the seamless introduction of inspection robots to their operations, ANYbotics developed an exclusive early adopters programme for strategic customers. Te programme underpins the cross- functional embracing of robotics and prepares the partner organisations for 2023 scaling. Central to the programme are numerous trial deployments at customer facilities. Te programme includes workshops, training on operational safety, security, and standard operating procedures, as well as priority access to 2023 ANYmal X production deliveries. “Our offshore and onshore assets require
Ex-certification in certain areas. Robots moving in these areas would therefore need to be certified. For this reason, we are taking part in the onboarding program,”comments Anders Røyrøy, principal researcher automation, Equinor. Petronas has been spearheading the integration of autonomous, legged Ex-certified robots by partnering with ANYbotics to co-develop ANYmal X since 2019. Additionally, several global operators have already signed up for the onboarding programme, including Equinor, Petrobras and Shell. “As Petrobras offshore platforms are large and complex assets, we need detailed and up-to-date information to keep a proper maintenance plan. ANYmal X can be an autonomous plant surveyor, an on-demand inspector and an important tool to respond
Tasks for the robot include equipment readouts and visual inspections
to safety incidents,” says Gustavo Levin, R&D manager, Petrobras. Each partner defines the mission tasks that the robot will perform together with ANYbotics. Te tasks include visual inspections and automated readouts of analogue instruments such as gauges, liquid level and lever positions, advanced thermography and vibration analysis of the equipment, and 3D scanning of the infrastructure. In addition, the unit is equipped with gas detection sensors to monitor the presence of methane, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide and several other gases. Te product integrates as an end-to-end solution through its software API with asset management software and digital twin platforms such as Cognite Data Fusion and Woodside Fuse for automated reporting.
Robots are ideal for use in areas that are hazardous to humans
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A REMARKABLE ENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENT Until now, Ex-certified robots were bulky, slow and lacked the mobility required to navigate the complex, multi-level nature of typical industrial facilities. Te ANYbotics team developed ANYmal X with identical performance, functionality, speed and mobility to that of ANYmal (Gen. D), the previous generation non-Ex inspection robot. Te latest offering is approved according to the IECEx and ATEX certification standards for usage in Zone 1 explosive atmospheres. Te challenge of packing all inspection robot capabilities and
performance into an Ex-proof system was a serious undertaking and required the firm to completely rethink how it develops robots. For safe usage in hazardous and potentially explosive environments, all systems need protection against any gas ignition. Robots work with motors, electronics, batteries and in this case, self-contained systems. Temperature control therefore requires complex thermal management. No suitable components existed, so the company developed the necessary high-performance components for the advanced thermal management system. In addition, the drivetrain needed multiple- redundancy protection. Such systems are not typically found in robots, so the team effectively re-engineered standard heavy machinery protocols to meet their weight, mobility and Ex-requirements. Te result is that all optics and sensors
are fully functional and simultaneously, totally protected, impact-resistant and highly ruggedised. Tis means the robot can inspect and navigate autonomously in Ex-conditions. Furthermore, the latest generation controller makes operating the robot easy and intuitive. Te control software is tablet agnostic, and this means that operators can use their existing industrial Ex-rated tablets. “Integrating autonomous robots into oil
& gas workforces is now not only possible, but effortless,” comments Mario Mauerer, CTO hardware, ANYbotics.
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