A four-legged friend capable of monitoring, inspecting and mapping any type of facility in complex industrial environments Such as chemical, security or mining plants, regardless of their size, and competent enough to detect gas and steam leaks, in addition to being able to read meters and other tools and work in an independent team without any human company. Of course, no dog, no matter what breed or training level, can handle all of that. However, there is a robot capable of doing this, and the company that created it is a Spanish company.
Keyper is the robotic dog, about the size of a Labrador retriever, from startup Keybotic, which was created “to prevent people from compromising their security,” explains Erin Gomez, CEO and co-founder of this “deep tech.” The company’s new robotics innovation is capable of scanning terrain without any human interaction, and performing safety and maintenance rounds in hazardous and complex environments with stairs, gravel, ramps, and tubes. “What we do is we frequently monitor an area and do maintenance rounds as the robot sends the incidents back to the control center,” Gomez says. This allows Keyper to be used to increase the productivity and safety of the company’s employees, while reducing various risks.
Keyper won the prestigious US Darpa Robotic Challenge
The startup was born in 2020, two years after the founders, Erin Gomez and Hilario Tomei, decided it was time for robots to enter the industry. “The reason this hasn’t happened before is because the robots are not autonomous, they are remotely controlled,” explains the CEO. In March last year, they decided to take part in the American Darpa Robotic Challenge, organized by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the same agency that developed Arpanet, the groundbreaking computer network that has been used as a means of communication between academic institutions and the state.
The challenge is for autonomous robots that are able to operate in underground environments for one hour. The solution that the team, led by Hilario Tomei, came up with was a winner. The prize consisted of $750,000, and they proved that their technology, to date, is one of the most advanced in the world.
Integrated service
The Barcelona-based company not only designs and produces its own robots, but also rents them, betting on the “robot-as-a-service” business model. “We differentiate ourselves through autonomy, because Our bots can work in teams of 20 bots at the same time And for our customer service. They work as a “end-to-end solution,” meaning the service is performed from start to finish without the help of a third party. “You have to imagine a robotic dog like Roomba. To make it work, it is only necessary to press the power button, ”says the CEO of the company.
Founded with an initial investment of 1 million euros, DeepTech is also able to find survivors in tunnels, caves and other underground environments, which explains why the company is currently conducting concept tests and negotiations with Bombers de Barcelona, in addition to BASF. Carburos Metálicos (Air Products) and Sant Cugat City Council, among others.
