Hibot debuts Float Arm with BASF Antwerp, wins SPRINT Robotics Award
(Tokyo, October 7) HiBot Corp., an innovative robotics start-up pioneering infrastructure maintenance applications, conducted field validation tests of its Float Arm robot. The tests were performed at BASF Antwerp, in Belgium, and involved the inspection of pipe racks and pressure vessel tanks.
Float Arm is a multi-link manipulator designed especially for inspection and maintenance of infrastructure in narrow, hazardous or confined environments. Due to its internal weight-compensation mechanism, Float Arm is modular, lighter and more compact than other similar devices, and is able to navigate through obstacles in cluttered environments. The tests performed at BASF Antwerp proved the mobility of Float Arm in several different work conditions, as well as the functionality of its visual and ultra-sonic inspection capabilities.
"Our pipe racks present a special challenge when it comes to maintenance and inspection, due to the long distances on site,” said Jürgen Moors, Operations Manager Utilities of BASF Antwerp. “In search for a more efficient and digital solution, with possibilities to developing it in future, we ended up with the solution of Hibot”.
The results of the validation tests had good visibility (see video link below) and were tracked by other potential users in the petrochemical field. In addition, SPRINT Robotics, an industry-driven platform created to foster inspection and maintenance robotics, has recognized the introduction of Float Arm in its SPRINT Robotics Award 2020. The partnership hibot-BASF Antwerp received the top award in the category “Groundbreaking Collaborative Work Towards Acceptance of Inspection and Maintenance Robotics”.
Michele Guarnieri, CEO of hibot , summarized the recent achievements, "I strongly believe that innovation is not just done by one entity, but by a group of people with passion and belief that we can obtain our goals. I think that what we put in place between BASF Antwerp and hibot is exactly that kind of thing”.