Safetytech Accelerator collaborates with Lloyd’s Register to determine how to make inspections in confined spaces safer – project update

Safetytech Accelerator is pleased to announce the winning technology providers selected to trial their robotic solutions for inspections in confined spaces.

Earlier this year, Safetytech Accelerator announced a collaboration with Lloyd’s Register’s Inspection Team in the Netherlands to find out how robots can be used for regulatory inspections instead of physical inspections requiring human entry in confined spaces. After a thorough selection process, Safetytech Accelerator is pleased to announce the winning robotic technology providers:

• Invert Robotics who have created state-of-the-art robotic crawler technology which can climb securely on both magnetic and non-magnetic surfaces while carrying various NDT payloads.
• Flyability who have created an innovative indoor drone solution, specifically designed for inspection of inaccessible confined spaces.
• ScoutDI who have created an integrated a tethered indoor drone system with unlimited flight time, lidar based navigation and real-time position tagging for inspection.
• Flybotix who have created an innovative indoor inspection drone, designed from the ground up for confined spaces inspection, that features a collision-proof protective cage with double flight time at half the noise versus competition.
• Hausbots who have created a unique wall climbing robot that has multiple applications, from infrastructure inspection to warehouse painting.

The winners will deploy their technology across several real-world inspection trials later this year testing the accuracy of their robotic solutions against human inspections assessing integrity and compliance. The trials will put the robots inside pressure vessels, requiring the robots to manoeuvre around small manholes and metal structures, often with limited lighting all while being exposed to varying levels of corrosion and mechanical damage. Inspectors will have real-time camera feeds to decide if damage exists in real-time.

Dr. Maurizio Pilu, Managing Director of Safetytech Accelerator had this to say, “One day inspection robots and drones will be routinely used to avoid dangerous human entry in confined spaces. This unique trial-focussed collaboration with multiple technology providers and clients, will help industry move in that direction”

Frank Van Bockel, Head of New Product Development at Lloyd’s Register said “With many robotics solutions hitting the inspection market, the most promising technologies are yet to be tested in real-world regulated confined spaces environments. These trials will show us the suitability of drone and crawler technology in these regulated use cases as well as build a roadmap for internal deployment.”

Watch this space as we share stories from these trials later this year.