Winners of the SPRINT Robotics Awards 2019 announced
13/12/2019
The winners of the annual SPRINT Robotics Awards 2019 were announced during the banquet of the SPRINT Robotics World Conference for Inspection and Maintenance Robotics 2019 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on 22 October.The SPRINT Robotics Awards acknowledge and reward exceptional work in inspection and maintenance robotics in our society. In 2019, three new awards categories were introduced: ‘Groundbreaking Collaborative Work Towards Acceptance of Inspection and Maintenance Robotics’; ‘Scaling of a Robotic Solution’; and ‘New Innovative Technology in Inspection, Maintenance or Cleaning’.
Tjibbe Bouma, Chair of SPRINT Robotics, said: “It is a privilege to present the SPRINT Robotics Awards to the winners at the World Conference for Inspection and Maintenance Robotics. These companies are trailblazers for accelerated global acceptance of robotics for inspection and maintenance. This will make inspection and maintenance safer, more productive and more environmentally friendly. SPRINT Robotics is very happy with the rapid progress and growing momentum that was evident at the conference. This prize represents an important recognition for the recipients and I congratulate them on behalf of the SPRINT Robotics Collaborative.”
GE Inspection Robotics was awarded first prize in the ‘Groundbreaking Collaborative Work Towards Acceptance of Inspection and Maintenance Robotics’ category.The Boiler Wall Cleaning and Inspection (BWCI) robot is an automated robotic system for water wall cleaning and inspection, removing the need to send human inspectors into confined spaces. GE Inspection Robotics’ collaboration with BASF Antwerp focused on operational procedures and implementation, resulting in a final industrialised system that is in operational use at BASF.
“With the technology we develop, we are disrupting current inspection and maintenance practices. We rely on and embrace collaboration with industrial partners enabling the deployment of robotics. BASF has been an enabler for many years and we appreciate the trust and exchange we get implementing robotic solutions,” said Ekki Zwicker, CEO at GE Inspection Robotics.
Other winners in the ‘Groundbreaking Collaborative Work Towards Acceptance of Inspection and Maintenance Robotics’ category included Nexxis, in partnership with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which received second prize for the development of Magneto, a robotic platform designed to naturally climb and inspect complex industrial geometries, and IRISNDT, the first NDT company to commercially test 3D localisation on the GE Bike, in collaboration with GE Inspection Robotics, which won third prize.
Dow was first-place winner of the SPRINT Robotics Award for ‘Scaling of a Robotic Solution’. While many companies pursue eliminating confined space entries (CSEs), Dow has pivoted to embrace zero CSEs. Dow has accelerated its robotic deployments for inspection and maintenance activities across its global sites; its safety-first initiative has ignited the drive for robotic deployments, quickly enabling many sites with a comprehensive robotic toolbox of platforms and sensors.
Peter Voorhans, MEC TS Global Improvement Leader at Dow, said: “Our primary goal is increasing safety; by using robots, we bring back the number of confined space entries, make working at high altitudes safer, and even diving under water is carried out by robots. It is not only safer, but working with robots is also more efficient and yields more consistent data that further improves maintenance work. 48,000 hours of confined space entry have been avoided by the use of robots.”Second prize in the ‘Scaling of a Robotic Solution’ category was awarded to Total for its ATEX-type ground robot, which was able to execute many operational tasks in both tele-operated and autonomous mode.
Nexxis was the first-place winner of the SPRINT Robotics Award for ‘New Innovative Technology in Inspection, Maintenance or Cleaning’.Magneto, designed and developed by Nexxis, is the next generation of multi-limbed climbing inspection robots that are able to exceed the mobility and versatility of operations carried out by current inspection solutions. Magneto provides an autonomous and spatially aware robotic platform, using advanced sensors and cameras coupled with artificial intelligence (AI).
Jason De Silveira, Director at Nexxis, commented: “Nexxis has focused on a collaboration framework together with its partners CSIRO’s Data61 and NERA, to ensure our robotics roadmap delivers the outcomes our customers are looking for. Magneto is focused on providing the dexterity needed to manipulate in order to become part of the autonomous intelligent working robot. Winning the award is validation that we are in fact on track in the technology space and it is very humbling.”
Other winners in the ‘New Innovative Technology in Inspection, Maintenance or Cleaning’ category were: Diakont (second place) for the Diakont Underwater Robotics Decontamination tool used in nuclear power plants; and RoNik Inspectioneering (third place) for the RoNik UT drone, which can execute a number of different tasks for tank shell and roof plates.
The winners were selected by means of a majority vote by the SPRINT Robotics Program Committee.
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