Keybotic: The Robotic Dog Ensuring Industrial Safety

Published by MetaData (6 August 2024)

Keybotic, a startup, has developed hardware that autonomously analyzes work environments to detect anomalies.

“Fifteen years ago, few people had a Roomba at home, but now I’d say nearly 50% of the population has a cleaning robot. Keyper is like the Roomba: few have it now, but it will be the future standard for implementing security and digitization from the start in the industry.” This is how Keybotic’s CEO, Irene Gómez, describes the robotic dog they have been marketing since 2022, which aims to revolutionize the sector.

The story of this four-legged device, which simulates a dog, began in 2019 when the founding team identified a key gap in the industrial environment: “In terms of safety, everything is done manually, and there are places where people cannot reach. If there were a robot, and it was autonomous, all this work would be much more effective.” With this idea, Gómez explains that they headed to the United States in 2021 to participate in the DARPA Robotics Challenge, organized by the U.S. government. “We presented software to navigate caves and tunnels up to 12 km, where we had to find people without the internet, GPS, or anything. It could help police, firefighters, or military personnel, or it could have helped in Thailand when it took days to rescue the trapped children,” she explains. They won first prize, totaling $750,000, which was the definitive boost to start the company.

The robot incorporates various types of sensors, such as LiDAR, cameras, and gas detectors, to detect anomalies like leaks, thermal issues, or personnel without proper work equipment. “We digitize industrial plants with sensors and artificial intelligence, but we do it with a robot-as-a-service system that allows companies to enhance security easily without significant expenses,” the CEO points out.

Thanks to the use of algorithms, the robot’s routes are automated, eliminating the need for human-conducted environmental analysis, now requiring only a few hours of training before using the hardware. The implementation is so simple that, as an anecdote, Gómez recounts that after an informational session with a new client, “we lost sight of the robot while talking to management because the workers had already taken it to start using it.”

Anomalies found are notified with alerts via email reports, phone, or corporate software messages, among other methods.

Currently, Keybotic primarily works with the Catalan chemical industry, where they have detected a “significant lack of technology to increase safety standards.” They also have clients in the petrochemical, energy, and mining sectors and hope to expand internationally soon. According to Gómez, this product is “what is starting to be demanded and implemented everywhere.” “Now is the time for the explosion, and here in Catalonia, we have the most advanced level in the world; no one does anything similar in terms of precision and adaptation to the industry,” she concludes.