E.ON and enviaM will train NEURA robots to inspect substations, and keep the skills they teach

E.ON and enviaM, the east German energy group that E.ON majority-owns, will train robots from NEURA Robotics to inspect equipment, monitor substations and help secure sites, the three companies said on Nov. 5. Skills are trained first at the TUM RoboGym near Munich airport, which NEURA opened with the Technical University of Munich in October, and then tested in live grid operations by enviaM's network subsidiary MITNETZ STROM. First practical experience is expected during 2027.

The clause that matters most is about ownership. E.ON and enviaM keep control of their data and trained skills at all times and decide whether, and with whom, to share them. NEURA pitches its Neuraverse platform as the place where a skill trained once becomes reusable on other robots and at other sites. Its first grid customer has kept the right to say no.

Grid workers will demonstrate their routines in sensor suits, with motion capture and teleoperation; robot runs and simulation add variations, and NEURA's Neuron AI model learns from sight, touch and sound. Grid facilities are built for people, with stairs, doors and control cabinets, and humanoids such as NEURA's 4NE1 could move through them without changes, the partners said. Companies from more than ten industries already train at the center, which covers more than 2,300 square meters.