The Brutus Crawler Makes Dow Safer
By 2025, the Dow Chemical Company aims to have eliminated the need for human entry into confined spaces in order to conduct inspections.
It’s a lofty safety target but one that appears to be eminently doable thanks to technologically advanced robotic systems which are already proving to be hugely successful at the chemical giant’s plants in the USA, Thailand and Holland.
In response to new safety requirements, Dow has invested millions of dollars in robotic equipment which are being used for conducting remote visual inspections and reconnaissance missions in traditional confined spaces and hazardous areas in their plants. The equipment includes four Delta Crawlers which are intuitive remotely operated robotic systems from Crystal Cam Imaging Inc.
These crawlers are designed to excel in challenging and hazardous environments – and they’ve made working at the Dow factory a whole lot safer. They’re capable of travelling through tight spaces, navigating over objects and around obstacles with speed and ease due to their unique shape-changing capabilities plus their specially designed track belts provide optimal traction performance in a wide variety of environments – even 30m under water.
These robots punch way above their weight – literally and figuratively.
Although small in size, they’re big on results so it’s little wonder that the Delta Crawler has been named ‘Brutus’ by employees at Dow’s Terneuzen plant. As Dennis Bastiaansen, one of the employees at Dow who has had the good fortune of experiencing the pint-sized powerhouse in action said: “It’s called Brutus, simply because it is brutal’.
The Delta Extreme was chosen by Dow because it met the new safety requirements imposed by the company’s head office and because it could inspect areas that were unsafe or inaccessible to people. Safety is a priority at Dow and the Delta Extreme is proving its worth around the plant, notably in cooling tower inspections and the device has its human colleagues lining up to work with it.
Typical applications for the Delta Extreme include search and rescue, duct, tunnel and culvert inspection and remote monitoring in nuclear power plants, and whether your inspection requirement is subsea or onshore – the Delta Extreme is hard to beat for its versatility and capability.
If safety is a priority at your operation and you want to find out how robotic inspection systems can reduce the risk to your personnel, save costs and boost productivity, get in touch with Nexxis. We are an established leader in the field of remote visual inspection (RVI) and non-destructive testing in Australia and our industry-trained experts can help you find a practical, cost-effective solution to all your inspection and testing challenges.
