They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but ‘Spot’ is here to prove otherwise. This four-legged industrial robot never stops learning, and with its newest capabilities, it’s about to make maintenance operations even smarter. Here, Tom Cash, director of automation parts supplier Foxmere, explains how the technologies used by Spot can help to give your equipment new capabilities — no matter how old.
Image Credit: Foxmere
You’re probably wondering what, or who, ‘Spot’ is. Well, it’s a versatile four-legged robot designed by Boston Dynamics for industrial applications, where it autonomously moves around a multitude of environments performing maintenance and safety tasks.
It can be retrofitted with advanced sensors and tools, monitoring equipment health and detecting potential failures before they lead to costly downtime. In short, Spot uses the latest technologies, so you can continue to use legacy technology safely.
Acoustic Leak Detection
Plant maintenance and operations teams currently use various strategies, such as routine inspections and scheduled maintenance, to mitigate against downtime.
However, the challenge remains: How can organisations identify potential problems even sooner?
Enter ultrasonic inspection. This technique involves the use of ultrasonic sound waves — frequencies that are typically above the range of human hearing — to detect early indicators of mechanical failures.
As equipment operates, it generates sound signatures that can subtly change as wear and tear occurs. These changes might include variations in pitch, intensity or frequency, which are often imperceptible to the human ear.
Using advanced tools, like ultrasonic sensors or imaging devices, operators can capture these sound signatures during routine inspections. The data collected is then analysed to identify anomalies or deviations from normal operating conditions.
For instance, an increase in ultrasonic noise might indicate a bearing has begun to perish, components have become misaligned due to vibrations or early warning signs of an air leak within a compressed air system.
As for Spot, it performs ultrasonic inspections of rotating equipment using the Fluke SV600, which captures data without installing additional inline sensors or requiring more contact sensors.
Reality Capture
Another of Spot’s technologies is reality capture, which can render 3D digital models of objects that exist in the physical world by capturing their shape.
Whether using camera-equipped drones or ground-based laser scanners, it captures every detail of a scene by collecting data from billions of reference points. This process is consistent across different architectural features, meaning that the complexity of the structure does not affect the time or data generated.
Using 3D data in industrial settings enhances factory management. By creating accurate visual representations of existing spaces, teams can improve the design of new equipment or production systems, especially in brownfield sites where modifications to current structures are required.
What’s more, accurate modelling aids in effective planning and helps identify potential conflicts during equipment installation, ensuring that projects run more smoothly and efficiently.
It’s also a valuable training resource for employees. Reality capture can provide them with a thorough understanding of the facility before they arrive on-site, leading to a more confident and effective workforce.
Legacy Systems
Spot’s new features allow it to capture data about equipment health and apply its laser scanning capabilities through Orbit, a fleet management software. This, in turn, allows users to conduct reality capture missions alongside regular inspections.
Using the Leica BLK ARC payload, operators then record these missions to capture detailed 3D data of the environment. After the data is collected, it can be edited, scheduled and monitored through the Orbit platform for better workflow.
Crucially, Orbit also supports integration with legacy systems, meaning that your existing infrastructure can benefit from these modern advancements.
Such an upgrade helps to identify and address urgent issues in the present while providing predictive intelligence to anticipate future issues.
So, you can teach an old dog new tricks after all, and if Spot says your legacy equipment requires an upgrade, automation parts suppliers like Foxmere can supply the components you need, including those hard-to-find or obsolete ones.