Sprint Robotic is a conference focused on the use of robotics for inspection, maintenance, repair and cleaning in the following industry segments:
- Petrochemical
- Civil & Public Infrastructure
- Energy
- Aerospace
The conference program includes main presentations, panel sessions and exhibitions of global technology and service providers.
As part of this conference, Sprint Robotics awards prizes for ground-breaking collaboration in the acceptance of control and maintenance robotics in recognition of activities that support the vision of Spirit Robotics. Any company other than the owner or operator of the assets that contributed to the Sprint Robotics vision can apply for the prize.
The winners of the Spirit Robotics Awards 2019 were announced in Rotterdam.
In 2019, three categories of awards were introduced:
- Groundbreaking Collaborative Work towards Acceptance of Inspection and Maintenance Robotics
- Scaling of a Robotic Solution
- New Innovative Technology in Inspection, Maintenance or Cleaning.
Ge Inspection Robotics received the first prize in the category Industrial cooperation in the acceptance of inspection and maintenance robotics.
Ge Inspection Robotics owes its victory to the robot for cleaning and inspecting boiler walls. It is an automated robotic system for cleaning and inspecting water walls, eliminating the need to send people to enclosed spaces.
The cooperation of GE Inspection Robotics with BASF Antwerp focused on operational procedures and implementation, which resulted in the final industrialized system that is in operational use at BASF.
Other prizes in this category belong to:
2nd prize, Nexxis, in partnership with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, for the development of Magneto, a robotic platform designed to naturally climb and inspect complex industrial geometries.
3rd prize, IrisNDT, the first NDT company to commercially test 3D localization on the GE Bike, in collaboration with GE Inspection Robotics.
The winner of the Sprint Robotics Award for Scaling of a Robotic Solution was Dow
Dow has accelerated the deployment of robots for inspection and maintenance in its global locations: their security initiative has paved the way for robot deployments, allowing rapid inclusion of multiple sites through a comprehensive robotic platform and sensor suite.
The second prize in scaling the robotic solution was awarded to Total for an Atex ground-based robot that was able to perform many operational tasks in both remote and autonomous modes.
Nexxis has won the first place of the Spirit Robotics Award for New Innovative Technology in Inspection, Maintenance or Cleaning.
They were awarded for Magneto. it is the next generation of multi-point climbing inspection robots that are able to exceed the mobility and versatility of operations compared to current inspection solutions.
Magneto provides an autonomous and spatially aware robotic platform, using advanced sensors and cameras coupled with artificial intelligence (AI).
Other winners in the New Innovative Technology in Inspection, Maintenance or Cleaning were:
2nd place, Diakont, for the Diakont Underwater Robotics Decontamination tool used in nuclear power plants; and
3rd place, RoNik Inspectioneering, for the RoNik UT drone which can execute a number of different tasks for tank shell and roof plates.
Sprint Robotics Awards are granted annually, the winners were selected by a majority of votes by the Sprint Robotics Program Committee.
source: roboticsandautomationnews.com
