To check the safety and proper functioning of equipment and machinery in large industries or energy structures, new technologies have made available measuring tools that are more complex than human vision. On certain occasions, drones perform a vital function, but now Spain will lend a robotic dog to the United States for one of its facilities.
What is this robot dog?
The curious robot dog launched by Boston Dynamics in 2020 is a technology pet in canine form that enables monitoring and quality control in large facilities or human-dangerous places with a high level of accuracy.
Spot is the name of the robotic dog that Ibedrola lends to his American counterpart, Avangrid perform inspections at two electrical substations Singer and East Shore in Connecticut, United Illuminating (UI)
The US branch of the Spanish company, in collaboration with Levatas and Boston Dynamics, will benefit from the mobile robot’s artificial intelligence and cutting-edge software to manage thermal measurements and visually capture any damaged equipment.
The benefits that Spot, the robotic dog, can offer
A mobile device with legs has the ability to have sensors that allow measuring and checking the safety of any installation. For work in the substation, it has a camera with 30x optical zoom and another that captures infrared.
This way you can capture and record thermal data from each phase of the transformer and circuit breaker. In addition, it contains acoustic sensors that allow it to locate and detect breaks or audio anomalies in real time.
At the Singer substation, the project will test the efficiency and accuracy of the robot read several substation analog meters and as for the East Shore, a robotic dog will be used to inspect transformers, circuit breakers and capacitor banks.
The mobile device can be controlled by the operator via a handheld computer or programmed with a predetermined circuit to navigate every corner of the device. Their help in the business allows you to have hourly records and variations in operation.
The advantage of the robotic hound is that can take device snapshots and perform comparisons based on the date and time, detect some type of error or power interruption that might go unnoticed by the human eye.
This means that it offers greater efficiency and accuracy because it is a ready-made machine, while providing a greater number of daily or monthly reviews for the company and saving costs for security operators.
Features of the dog robot
According to Boston Dynamics, a robotic pet Its advantage is comfortable movement on all types of terrain. Especially in very dangerous places such as mines, tunnels, construction sites, places with the risk of collapse or radioactivity, etc.
It’s an alternative meant to optimize, if not replace, drones, at least at ground level. Due to its type of displacement, this air device can be perfect for measuring the atmosphere.
In addition, the drone can carry a maximum load of 5 kg, while the robot dog can carry a load of 15 kg. Although they are faster than canine pets, their battery supports up to 30 minutes of autonomy The spot can offer 90 minutes without interruption.
In Avangrid devices, a thermal imaging system can be integrated into the robotic dog, which generates thermographic reports on the state of electrical components and devices. Then compare different reports and track possible changes or incidents by peak hours. A measuring tool that achieves efficiency in the electrical sector.
