ANYbotics, the Swiss maker of four-legged inspection robots, says it has started delivering ANYmal X, a version built to work where flammable gas may be in the air. In a release on 27 October, the Zurich company said the robot “is now shipping to several oil, gas, and chemical industry leaders, including Equinor and DSM-Firmenich”.
ANYbotics calls ANYmal X “the world’s first legged inspection robot for explosive atmospheres”. That is the company’s own claim. It first unveiled the design in March 2022; the news now is certification and customer deliveries.
What the robot does
Large parts of refineries and chemical plants are classed as hazardous zones, where any spark or hot surface could ignite gas. Equipment used there must be “ex-proof”. Today, people walk these areas on routine inspection rounds, carrying gas detectors and protective kit.
ANYmal X walks those rounds instead, climbing stairs of up to 45 degrees and moving along narrow walkways. It carries visual, thermal and acoustic sensors, plus optional gas sensing, to spot leaks, overheating, unusual noise and wear. Each reading is logged against the piece of equipment it belongs to. The battery lasts more than three hours, and the robot walks back to its dock on its own.
Since 2023, BP, Equinor, Shell, PETRONAS, Petrobras, BASF and SLB have tested it “across hundreds of onshore and offshore missions”, ANYbotics says.
How it was made safe
Fixed equipment in hazardous areas usually sits in heavy blast-proof boxes or runs on very low power. “A legged robot cannot use either approach,” the release says, because it needs strong motors, a big battery and exposed cameras. ANYbotics instead put the robot’s AI computer and sensors in “nitrogen-filled, sealed chambers” and says “all twelve leg actuators and its battery are protected by flameproof casings”.
“Many experts thought a legged robot could never be made safe for explosive atmospheres,” said Péter Fankhauser, co-founder and chief executive. He said four years of work and “more than ten patents” went into it.
What the certificate covers
The release says the robot “has been built to meet” both main standards, ATEX in Europe and IECEx globally. The product page is more precise. It says Bureau Veritas, an independent testing body, “has examined the design and issued an ATEX EU-type examination certificate for Zones 1 and 2”. The IECEx certificate is still to come: it “requires an audit of the series production line, which starts after launch”.
There are limits. ANYbotics says the robot “is not intended for Zone 0, explosive dust atmospheres or IIC gases such as hydrogen and acetylene”. Charging and nitrogen refilling happen outside the hazardous area.
Why certification is the real milestone
Robot dogs are now common on industrial sites; Boston Dynamics’ Spot is gaining agentic features. But most of them are barred from the parts of oil and chemical plants that matter most, because ordinary electronics could cause a blast. A certificate from an independent body is what lets a robot through that gate, and ANYbotics’ chief revenue officer, Thierry Obédé, called it “only the entry ticket”.
Zones 1 and 2 cover large areas of these plants, so the market is real. A PETRONAS robotics manager quoted on the product page said Zone 1 approval would let the company “bring the robot very close to our process area, and that’s where you create value”. It fits a wider push to send machines into dangerous places, from Gecko’s wall-climbing robots on Navy ships to rescue robots tested on fire and flood tasks.
The worker safety case is strong on paper. ANYbotics cites NIOSH figures showing US extraction workers face a fatality rate seven times the national average. But the company has not yet published results showing fewer injuries or hours of human exposure on sites using ANYmal X, and it has not said how many robots it has shipped or at what price. The global IECEx certificate, needed in many markets outside Europe, is also still pending.
What comes next
ANYbotics says ANYmal X will be shown publicly for the first time at the ADIPEC 2026 energy show, with SLB and Kuwait Oil Company.
Sources
- ANYbotics: “ANYbotics Starts Customer Deliveries of ANYmal X, the World’s First Legged Robot Built for Explosive Atmospheres” (27 October 2026)
- ANYbotics: ANYmal X product page and certification FAQ (read 27 October 2026)
- ANYbotics: first ANYmal X announcement (22 March 2022)
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