New robot can switch between flying and driving

By Ariana Hurtado, Editor and Director of Special Reports

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — Revolute Robotics, founded in 2021, recently introduced its Hybrid Mobility Robot (HMR), a drone mounted inside a spherical exoskeleton with a mechanism that allows the drone to roll on the ground when flying isn’t required. 

The company said the technology combines aerial mobility with the durability and long operating time of rovers.

Revolute has built more than two dozen prototypes in sizes ranging from 10 to 30 inches, and it was ultimately determined that the 20-inch diameter worked best for carrying large batteries while still fitting through most openings. The HMR was designed to be payload-agnostic, with the ability to swap between a high-resolution camera, LiDAR scanner, infrared, thermal and NDT technology, explained CEO and Founder Collin Taylor.

The HMR can roll five times longer than it can fly, and the company’s testing suggests it can achieve 10 to 20 times longer operation when rolling.

“Drone and rover advancements have made remote inspection a reality, but the complexity of each inspection requires teams to deploy multiple robotic solutions (drones, rovers, crawlers, PIGs) depending on the need,” Taylor told Offshore. “Our hybrid aerial and terrestrial capability allows for a single solution to cover multiple uses, like the Swiss army knife of robotic inspections. One system instead of several is not only cheaper but easier to understand and implement.”

For example, the HMR offers operators of normally unmanned offshore facilities a robotic technology that can travel anywhere on the rig at any time. “In case of emergencies, it will be able to quickly travel anywhere on the rig to get a holistic view of the situation,” Taylor added.  

While the technology has not started field trials, the company is currently in testing with alpha users with an international patent pending. Plus, Revolute Robotics has received interest in inspecting Shell's deepwater Gulf of Mexico assets.

The drone’s main use case is for visual inspection of confined spaces, such as tanks, fluid catalytic cracking units, offshore rigs, underground utilities, wastewater facilities, nuclear reactors, rotary kilns and pipe interiors. The technology also can be used for crack/corrosion inspection, recording valve measurement, and spill detection and response.

“Caged drones are a great solution for small, confined spaces, but they are limited by low operating times,” Taylor explained. “Like a caged drone, our robot can safely fly in confined spaces. Unlike a caged drone, our solution conserves energy by rolling on the ground: opening up larger assets and areas to the benefits of remote inspection; and enabling faster inspections due to less time spent exiting, battery swapping and reentering the asset.”

Additionally, he presented the challenges of rover-based robotics and noted the simplicity of the HMR drone’s ability to fly around potential obstacles.

“Rovers are limited by their mobility in challenging environments. Uneven terrain, slopes, gaps in the flooring and a host of obstacles prevent and/or restrict their movement,” Taylor said. “Only a few solutions are capable of climbing stairs, and the ones that can are cumbersome. No rovers that we know of can climb ladders or collect data at height. If our solution reaches an obstacle, it simply flies around it."

Additional development work