{"id":229880,"date":"2020-07-13T11:00:25","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=229880"},"modified":"2020-07-13T11:00:25","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T09:00:25","slug":"patrol-robot-to-help-industrial-workers-avoid-risky-environments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/patrol-robot-to-help-industrial-workers-avoid-risky-environments\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrol robot to help industrial workers avoid risky environments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Workers on industrial sites are often put in high-risk environments, especially in areas outside of factories.\u00a0Rovenso<\/a>, a robotic company based in Switzerland, has created an agile robot that will prevent humans from going into these situations while optimally monitoring the industrial plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Estier, co-founder and CEO of Rovenso, told Innovation Origins that while digitalization and automatization have been pervasive inside factories, especially in the logistics, little has been done for spaces outside of these buildings. However, very often, these kinds of places expose workers to dangerous situations.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that this was the primary motivation for his company: how to bring in automation outside of factories so as to protect the facilities\u2019 workforce from risky tasks?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution is a fully autonomous robot, ROV\u00e9o, that can access the majority of areas thanks to a patented technology that allows it to tackle steps and stairs, as well as any rough terrain by merely adapting to their shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ROV\u00e9o can independently\u00a0patrol facilities<\/a>\u00a0choosing its own\u00a0routes and\u00a0reporting instantly to security staff if\u00a0an irregularity is detected.\u00a0Additionally,\u00a0it is able to detect any anomalies in the factory itself. This is thanks to its fusion of multi-modal sensors that combine 3D laser scanning, night vision, thermal vision, and acoustic analysis\u00a0to\u00a0detect intrusions, liquid or gas leaks,\u00a0and early stages of fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rovenso was set up by a team with academic backgrounds in space robotics, microengineering, and automation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a nutshell, the Rovenso robot can help industries to safety patrol inside or outside factories, while also checking the status of the facilities without putting any employee in a dangerous situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, ROV\u00e9o does not just replace a human, but it can do things a human cannot do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Does It Work?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Estier explains that the robot has three layers of technology: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first one refers to a unique chassis that originated from space design. This allows the robot \u201cto go over obstacles and even climb stairs without having to analyze the surrounding environment. It just moves forward, and gravity allows the chassis to adapt passively.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estier emphasized that this is a very important part of the robot as it is what makes it different from much more expensive autonomous machines. \u201cThere is no intelligence in the chassis; we don’t make it actively climb obstacles. It’s only the robot’s reaction to obstacles that makes the chassis adapt to the terrain profile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the ROV\u00e9o can even overcome obstacles that are much bigger than the wheel size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ROV\u00e9o. \u00aeRovenso<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The second layer that Estier mentioned is that the robot does not require any\u00a0installation, need to be adapted to the environment, or any human supervision as it is fully autonomous.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe just teach the robot the environment, and the ROV\u00e9o makes a map of it.\u201d Once this is done, the robot can simply be set up to check any particular thing in any specific place and will do this autonomously. It will also go back and recharge itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be able to navigate in these terrains, the robot models everything in 3D. This allows it to detect intrusions, but it can also quickly identify when something is out of place. For example, the ROV\u00e9o could identify a single package missing in a warehouse that has 10,000 packages by merely passing by. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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