ANYmal X is the world’s first legged inspection robot for explosive atmospheres. Purpose-built to meet the strictest safety standards in oil, gas, and chemicals, ANYmal X uses an advanced industrial AI stack to execute routine autonomous inspections in hazardous environments. The robot is now shipping to several oil, gas and chemical industry leaders, including Equinor and DSM-Firmenich.
Source: Anybotics
Oil, gas, and chemicals represent the largest and most challenging global inspection markets. Valued at $102 billion, the global oil, gas and chemical sector is the largest market for autonomous inspection. Two major operational costs drive this market value: the expensive skilled labor required for manual inspection, and the downtime caused by preventable equipment failures. Because critical components, like pumps, compressors, valves, and piping, are located in hazardous zones, where standard robots are banned, human operators still need personal protective equipment, handheld gas detectors, and entry permits to inspect these areas on foot. ANYmal X automates high-risk inspection rounds without requiring any facility modifications, navigating complex industrial environments such as steep stairs and narrow walkways. Its integrated thermal, visual, acoustic, and gas sensors detect overheating, leaks, abnormal noise and equipment wear, logging every reading directly to its corresponding asset. This gives reliability engineers a standardized baseline to track asset health over time, enabling teams to spot early signs of wear and intervene before minor issues escalate into costly plant shutdowns. In addition to keeping workers out of harm’s way and minimizing downtime, ANYmal X provides continuous, repeatable, structured observational data that enhances digital facility planning models, such as digital twins, giving them greater contextual detail to make them more useful across an entire organization.
Every device used in these hazardous areas, from radios to flashlights, must be explosion-protected, or “ex-proof.” Each unit requires independent certification proving it cannot ignite a flammable atmosphere, even when something fails. The leading standards are ATEX in Europe and IECEx globally and ANYmal X has been built to meet both standards. Fixed equipment typically achieves compliance using heavy, explosion-proof enclosures or limiting electrical energy to prevent ignition. A legged robot cannot use either approach. It requires high-power motors and a large battery in a frame light enough to climb stairs, exposed cameras and sensors for navigation, and autonomous docking capabilities. Every one of these components had to be certified ex-proof without sacrificing the robot’s payload capacity, agility, or operating speed.
ANYmal X was engineered from the ground up to comply with the oil, gas, and chemical sectors’ strictest safety standards. ANYbotics performed a comprehensive ignition-risk assessment for ANYmal X’s service life and implemented safeguards for each potential ignition source. Each of its components has been designed to minimize ignition risk. ANYmal X’s AI computer and inspection equipment are enclosed in nitrogen-filled, sealed chambers. Non-metallic shells insulate metallic components, conductive feet provide grounding, and automatic cutoffs monitor temperature. All twelve leg actuators and its battery are protected by flameproof casings. Charging and data transmission use energy barriers, so no connection is exposed to hazardous areas. ANYmal X’s onboard software monitors the robot’s condition before, during, and after each mission. It also tests durability against shock, vibration, corrosion, solar radiation, and salt mist to ensure all protective measures function properly in normal use.
In operation, ANYmal X runs on Shift™, this company’s operations platform for autonomous industrial inspection. Shift schedules robot missions, organizes findings by asset and helps maintenance teams track changes over time. It connects inspection findings with the plant systems teams already use, including SAP, Yokogawa and SLB. To ensure top-tier data protection, the whole system is developed and operated under ISO 27001 standards. — Anybotics, Inc., Zurich, Switzerland