Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

wind

Aerones demonstrates ‘first’ robot for wind turbine maintenance and repair

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Aerones has demonstrated for what it claims is the “first robot that offers full-service leading edge wind turbine blade maintenance and repair”.

The robot performs maintenance 5x faster than humans, and makes use of various attachments to perform different tasks, including refinishing blades with RELEST coatings from AkzoNobel.

The robot is able to perform maintenance and repair for Level 1-3 Leading Edge Erosion (LEE), proactively addressing erosion in a cost-effective manner and halting progression to Level 4-5 erosion. [Read more…] about Aerones demonstrates ‘first’ robot for wind turbine maintenance and repair

Aerones raises $30 million to develop wind turbine maintenance robot

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Aerones, a Latvia-based company specializing in robot-enabled wind turbine maintenance and inspection, has secured $30 million in growth capital to scale its business globally.

The capital will be used to help the Company meet surging demand in a market which is expected to reach $50 billion in value by 2028.

The funding round was co-led by Lightrock, the global growth equity investor, and Haniel, the European family-owned purpose-driven investor. [Read more…] about Aerones raises $30 million to develop wind turbine maintenance robot

EDF employs ‘unique’ underwater drone to carry out ‘first ever’ autonomous robotic inspection of wind farm foundations

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EDF has installed a uniquely customised remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to carry out what is believed to be the first autonomous wind farm foundation inspection at its Blyth Offshore Wind Farm.

The ROV, equipped and operated by researchers from the ORCA Hub, a strategic project within the National Robotarium, was modified to include cutting-edge robotic technologies for autonomous inspection capabilities and carried out visual inspections of the gravity-based foundations of three offshore turbines over the course of four days.

The inspections were undertaken as part of a partnership between EDF and the ORCA Hub to investigate a wide range of potential applications for drone technology to assess offshore wind turbines. [Read more…] about EDF employs ‘unique’ underwater drone to carry out ‘first ever’ autonomous robotic inspection of wind farm foundations

Marine robotics specialist Vaarst raises $20 million to expand

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Marine robotics specialist Vaarst has closed on the first $20 million of its Series B round led by energy transition investor Legal & General Capital, alongside the venture capital arm of the international energy company Equinor.

Existing shareholder Foresight Group also participated alongside In-Q-Tel, the strategic investor for the US intelligence and defence communities and allied nations.

Vaarst is a leading provider of autonomy and cloud managed robotics; supporting the offshore wind, wave & tidal, scientific, maritime security, and civils industries. [Read more…] about Marine robotics specialist Vaarst raises $20 million to expand

Aptiv to buy Wind River for $4.3 billion

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Aptiv, a technology company developing mobility software and systems, is to acquire Wind River from TPG Capital, the private equity platform of global alternative asset management firm TPG, for $4.3 billion in cash.

Wind River is a global leader in delivering software for the intelligent edge. Used on over two billion edge devices across more than 1,700 customers globally, Wind River’s software enables the secure development, deployment, operations and servicing of mission-critical intelligent systems.

This edge-to-cloud software portfolio spans the aerospace and defense, telecommunications, industrial and automotive markets and is anchored by Wind River Studio, a highly versatile, comprehensive cloud-native intelligent systems software platform that enables full product lifecycle management for edge-to-cloud use cases. [Read more…] about Aptiv to buy Wind River for $4.3 billion

Inspection and Diagnostic Robots: What they Mean for Society

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Seventy percent of robots in the United States are employed in just four industries: auto-making, electronics, plastic and chemicals, and metals manufacturing.

Inspection and diagnosing play an important part in all these industries, so a variety of robots have been programmed to inspect equipment and diagnose problems as they arise.

Of course, inspection and diagnosis are not limited to manufacturing; they are the safeguards of society. AI diagnostics and autonomous inspection are helping us in more ways than we can imagine. [Read more…] about Inspection and Diagnostic Robots: What they Mean for Society