Energy Robotics provides hardware-agnostic software for autonomous inspections. Source: Energy Robotics
Artificial intelligence is providing new levels of autonomy, making robots more capable for tasks such as inspection in hazardous environments. Energy Robotics GmbH today said it has successfully raised $13.5 million in Series A funding.
“This funding round will help us scale autonomy to serve the world’s most critical infrastructure, giving energy, chemicals, utilities, and security operators greater resilience, safety, and efficiency,” stated Marc Dassler, co-founder and CEO of Energy Robotics. “As a skilled workforce retires, critical infrastructure operators face a significant demographic shift. This is compounded by the fact that many of the world’s most vital energy and chemical assets are decades old, requiring more frequent and intricate monitoring, inspection, and maintenance.”
Formed by a team from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Energy Robotics provides an AI software platform for autonomous industrial inspection. It claimed that its hardware-agnostic system delivers actionable insights directly into customer workflows to improve efficiency and safety. The Darmstadt, Germany-based company operates on five continents.
Energy Robotics promises safety and savings
Energy Robotics asserted that systems using its software can cut operating costs by up to 40%. It said its “full-stack, fleet-management AI software autonomy platform” can perform visual inspections, thermal scans, and leak detection with reduced risk to humans, fewer errors, and more frequent data collection.
Energy Robotics also said its approach can eliminate fragmented tools and reduce downtime. Its offerings include:
- Hardware-agnostic operating system: This integrates with eight robots and drones from manufacturers such as Boston Dynamics, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and DJI, giving customers the flexibility to build mixed fleets without vendor lock-in.
- AI-powered analytics: An advanced AI analytics library interprets multimodal sensor data, from gauge readings to leak detection, continuously learning and improving with every mission.
- Simple, LLM-driven mission control: The platform integrates a large language model (LLM), enabling operators to simply prompt it to generate and execute inspection tasks across entire fleets of robots and drones.
- Real-world data versus synthetic data: Fleet orchestration and autonomous operations are based on millions of data points gathered in complex, dynamic real-word facilities such as refineries and power plants.
- “Evergreen” digital twins: Each inspection mission automatically updates a live, evolving digital replica of facilities, providing real-time visibility and predictive insights that feed directly into customer ERP, CMMS, and digital twin platforms.
- Data privacy and cybersecurity: Energy Robotics said it keeps sensitive inspection data within customer-controlled IT systems, independent of vendor-specific software platforms.
Energy Robotics said it has completed more than 1 million inspections across five continents, saving over 32,000 hours of hazardous labor. It has customers across oil and gas, industrial, chemical, and utility sectors, including Shell, BP, Repsol, BASF, Merck and E.ON.
Critical infrastructure inspection data can feed digital twins and AI. Source: Energy Robotics
Investors support efficiency, sustainability
Blue Bear Capital and Climate Investment (CI) co-led Energy Robotics’ Series A round, with participation from Futury Capital, Hessen Capital, Kensho VC, and TADTech. The company said the funding will accelerate the commercial deployment of its software across energy, chemicals, industrial, and security sectors.
“The industrial robotics market has reached an inflection point,” said Cindi Bough, managing director at CI. “Energy Robotics delivers climate impact by using autonomous robots to spot gas leaks early, so harmful emissions are fixed before they escape into the atmosphere.”
“The global energy transition relies on a more resilient, efficient, and secure infrastructure,” added Dr. Carolin Funk, partner at Blue Bear Capital. “Energy Robotics’ autonomous inspection platform, powered by AI, directly addresses this need. It provides a scalable solution that improves the safety and operational efficiency of key energy and industrial assets, while taking advantage of the global robotics expansion.”
Autonomous inspections can improve safety and data quality across industries. Source: Energy Robotics
CEO discusses Energy Robotics plans
Dassler replied to the following questions from The Robot Report:
Are there specific technologies that Energy Robotics will be developing with this investment?
Dassler: We are mostly focused on the go-to-market execution of our solution, as well as scaling our global infrastructure. In addition, the money raised will be used to deepen the existing integration of AI and LLMs into our platform to enhance the ability manage vast global fleets of robots and drones in critical infrastructure.
Is the company hiring, and if so, for what types of roles?
Dassler: Yes, we are looking for talented team members in go-to-market, DevOps, robot operations, and development.
If the industrial robotics market has reached “an inflection point,” how does Energy Robotics see it growing or maturing?
Dassler: We’re now seeing customers request batch deployments of robots and drones in their facilities, which demonstrates the rapid rate of growth in robot technology and real-world capabilities.
At the same time, our AI-driven data processing has achieved high reliability and accuracy, enabling customers to integrate the data collected and interpreted by our platform directly into their core operational processes. This demonstrates a high level of trust that customers have in industrial robotic technology and represents significant progress for the industry as a whole.
Does Energy Robotics see interest increasing in oil and gas (O&G), solar and renewables, or utilities the most? Are you seeing regional differences in demand?
Dassler: The O&G sector in the EU, Middle East, and U.S. is growing faster due to increasing safety standards, the need for rapid emission detection, pressure to reduce OPEX [operational expense] costs, and a shrinking skilled workforce. Demand in solar and renewable energy sectors is also growing, but they are less impacted by the labor shortage issues that are impacting O&G.
The Middle East presents a contrasting case. While there is no labor shortage in the O&G industry, climate change has made outdoor operations dangerously hot during summer months. In extreme heat, workers can only safely operate outside for 15 minutes at a time, presenting a unique use case for robots to perform important tasks.
Will the investors be providing any guidance or market access assistance?
Dassler: Absolutely. Choosing the right investors helps us understand the market and provides direct access to decision-makers. This is why we partnered with Climate Investment and Blue Bear Capital, which have strong networks across the O&G, energy, and critical infrastructure industries.
How is Energy Robotics applying the latest advances in AI to its offerings?
Dassler: As a result of our extensive in-the-field operations, our AI platform has developed a detailed understanding of the many types of environments where robots and drones can operate. Combined with developments in AI software and LLMs, we enable users to prompt our robot fleets using natural language, dramatically simplifying mission planning in constantly changing environments.
As a result, robot deployment time has shrunk from minutes to seconds, allowing even untrained personnel to use the system effectively.
Oil and gas is a major target market for Energy Robotics. Source: Energy Robotics
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