ANYbotics begins shipping ANYmal X, a legged robot for explosive atmospheres

The company said four years of engineering and more than ten patents went into ANYmal X. "Many experts thought a legged robot could never be made safe for explosive atmospheres," co-founder and Chief Executive Péter Fankhauser said, according to the report. "Oil, gas and chemical plants are among the most hazardous and most costly places to operate."

BP p.l.c., Equinor, Shell plc, Petroliam Nasional Berhad, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., BASF SE and SLB N.V. began testing ANYmal robots in 2023 across hundreds of onshore and offshore facilities through ANYbotics' early access program, the report said. The company said data and knowledge from those participants were used to refine the platform into the industrial-grade robot now being shipped.

Making a legged robot safe around flammable gases requires controlling potential ignition sources throughout the machine, not simply adding a tougher shell, according to ANYbotics. Fixed equipment can be housed in heavy, explosion-proof enclosures with limited exposure to the outside environment. Legged robots have exposed cameras and sensors for navigation and ports for docking, so every component must be certified explosion-proof to prevent a spark or stop heat sources or combustion from spreading outside the machine. ANYbotics said it conducted comprehensive ignition risk assessments and implemented safeguards for every potential ignition source.

Chief Technology Officer Andrea Corda said the company repeatedly asked "which credible event in the life of a walking robot could create an ignition source, and how do we make sure it never does?" The company said ANYmal X was engineered from the ground up to comply with oil, gas and chemical industry safety standards while maintaining payload capacity, agility and operating speed. Legged robots have been banned from oil, gas and chemical refineries and other hazardous atmospheres because their complex components must be isolated from the surrounding atmosphere, the report said.

ANYbotics cited Fortune Business Insights estimates that global oil-and-gas inspection robotics revenue is roughly $800 million to $1 billion annually. The company said undetected equipment failures cost companies about $1.4 trillion each year in downtime; in oil and gas, Siemens AG reported that a single hour can translate to almost $500,000, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reported that extraction workers in the United States have historically faced fatality rates seven times the national average. ANYbotics Chief Revenue Officer Thierry Obédé said more than 50 power, metals and materials customers use its systems to run over 120,000 autonomous inspections every month.