the other electronics mentioned), as well as efficient power consumption, not to mention the many comms standards listed above (with 5G SIM card compatibility also being important for future real-time inspection data-streaming in areas without wi-fi). “Those many standards meant we had to integrate many different antennas in the early designs of the RB-WATCHER, which meant an impractical cluttering of antennas, which was risky for working inside and around industrial assets, and also a great deal of wiring that had to be stuffed inside and routed throughout the robot,” Millet recounts. “But now, we’ve found and integrated a six-in-one antenna module that communicates across all of the router’s bands. It’s a dome-shaped device we install behind the Lidar; the only receiver it doesn’t connect with is the GPS, as the GPS antenna has to be on the upper part, and the six-in-one module was too large to install at the top.” Operator systems The Bluetooth-linked remote controller is actually a PlayStation 5 handset, given the plethora of context-sensitive and reconfigurable key bindings it provides. “Our HMI software for monitoring, preprogramming and controlling the RB-WATCHER is based in a web browser, so it can be run from any desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone,” Millet says. “In principle, the HMI software uses the same core software as all our robots, but it has also been re-engineered with plug-ins specific to the inspection usecase. That has been key, for example, to operators being able to monitor the different camera inputs.” The RB-WATCHER’s HMI software comes with a task sequencer for endusers to intuitively plot and schedule different inspection tasks in their desired geographical and chronological order. Another plug-in enables the location of the robot to be shown or shared in Google Maps, while others provide for visualising data from the robot in ways that industrial safety officers might need in order to make actionable reports from the gathered survey information. “We also had to develop a REST API [which conforms to the representational state-transfer (REST) architectural style], so that when certain customers in the industrial space don’t want to use our interface, or maybe prefer to run our HMI from their own facility management software, that API can facilitate it. We have also used MQTT APIs that have worked well and tend to integrate smoothly with IoT devices.” Future While the RB-WATCHER has been available for a few years now, Robotnik’s engineers are continuing to optimise and update the system, most recently releasing a new version of the HMI with a cleaner layout and greater ease of reconfiguring the alarms, monitoring tasks and other automated behaviours. “We’re exploring new ways to update the robot, including contactless, wireless charging technologies, ways of integrating more cameras in different locations across the body, and the potential for integrating gas-detection sensors and even robotic manipulator arms,” Millet says, alluding to Robotnik’s long-running portfolio of mobile manipulators for industrial applications. “We automate tasks with robotic arms all the time, including one project with an RB-SUMMIT using an arm in agricultural r&d, and we’re interested in how we could get a future version of the RB-WATCHER to start handling manual maintenance tasks with an arm of its own. But we want to accomplish lots of r&d to make something that works reliably enough to meet industrial safety standards, so it’s not something you’ll see from us within the next few months.” 57 Uncrewed Systems Technology | February/March 2025 Dimensions: 731 x 614 x 904 mm Empty weight: 73 kg Payload capacity: 50 kg Speed: 2.5 m/s Enclosure rating: IP54 Maximum endurance: 5 hours Operating temperature range: -10 C to 45 C Maximum slope: 80% or 38.66° Key specifications In addition to recently updating the RB-WATCHER’s HMI, Robotnik plans to look into wireless charging, new sensor systems and other ways of advancing the robot’s capabilities
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