ANYmal Deployment at Live Chevron Facility

Project Summary

Through the ORCA Hub, Chevron have partnered with the University of Oxford and University of Edinburgh who are both developing new mapping technology to enable deployment of the ANYmal quadruped robot. The collaboration plans to conduct a deployment of ANYmal in a live Chevron facility within Europe. Lessons learned from the deployment will allow Chevron to evaluate quadruped robots as a viable autonomous inspection solution for their facilities. The robotic developers at Oxford and Edinburgh will also use the lessons learnt to improve the autonomous capabilities of quadruped robots for hazardous area inspection.

OUTCOMES

– Validate general indoor and outdoor, safe, and reliable, quadruped manoeuvrability around a live cluttered and hazardous facility.
– Demonstrate general visual reading of digital and analogue gauges.
– Demonstrate indoor and outdoor industrial stair climbing on an active site.
– Demonstrate general visual inspection of structures.
– Produce a 3D model of the Chevron industrial facility captured by a robot using the first deployment of new mapping technology.
– Provide a lessons learnt report evaluating the success of deliverables 1-4 that all collaborators will use for assessment and further development of a quadruped robots for use in live industrial settings.