ANYbotics starts delivering ANYmal X, a legged inspection robot certified for explosive atmospheres

Swiss company ANYbotics has begun customer deliveries of ANYmal X, a quadruped robot for routine inspection rounds in explosive atmospheres, with Equinor and DSM-Firmenich among the first oil, gas and chemical customers. The company calls it the world's first legged inspection robot built for such areas.

The new part is the certification, not the walking. ANYbotics already sells legged inspection robots, but every device used in hazardous zones must be explosion-protected, and CEO Péter Fankhauser says those areas, the ones that matter most, had been off-limits to robots like his. The first named buyers also come after a long trial: since 2023, BP, Equinor, Shell, PETRONAS, Petrobras, BASF and SLB have tested ANYmal X on hundreds of onshore and offshore missions through ANYbotics' Early Access Program. The company has not disclosed unit numbers or prices.

Motors, battery and sensors had to be made ex-proof

Fixed equipment usually meets explosion-protection rules with heavy enclosures or by limiting electrical energy. ANYbotics says a legged robot can do neither, because it needs high-power motors and a large battery in a frame light enough to climb stairs, plus exposed cameras and sensors and autonomous docking.

Its answer was component by component. The AI computer and inspection equipment sit in sealed, nitrogen-filled chambers. Non-metallic shells insulate metal parts, conductive feet ground the robot, and automatic cutoffs watch temperature. All 12 leg actuators and the battery have flameproof casings. "Four years of pioneering engineering with more than ten patents went into ANYmal X," Fankhauser said.

ATEX now, IECEx after series production starts

Bureau Veritas has issued an ATEX EU-type examination certificate for Zones 1 and 2, according to ANYbotics' product page. The global IECEx certificate requires an audit of the series production line, which starts after launch. The certification has limits: it covers gas atmospheres in Gas Group IIB and does not cover Zone 0, explosive dust or IIC gases such as hydrogen and acetylene. Charging and nitrogen refills happen outside the hazardous area, and a charge lasts more than three hours.

The software side is already in use

ANYmal X ships as part of an inspection system on Shift, ANYbotics' operations platform, which links findings to plant software such as SAP, Yokogawa and SLB. "Today, more than 50 power, metals, and materials customers use this system to run over 120,000 autonomous inspections every month," said Thierry Obédé, ANYbotics' chief revenue officer.

ANYbotics, spun out of ETH Zurich in 2016 and employing about 200 people, will show ANYmal X and its industrial AI stack in public for the first time at ADIPEC 2026, together with SLB and Kuwait Oil Company.