How wall-climbing robots could help Gulf energy producers recover from attacks

US technology company Gecko Robotics is deploying a new generation of wall-climbing robots across Adnoc's energy facilities to detect structural weaknesses and assess damage, after the Iran war exposed vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure across the Gulf.

The company, which unveiled its Raptor robot exclusively to The National at Adipec in Abu Dhabi, is also considering manufacturing the machines in the UAE as it expands its partnership with Adnoc, including a new agreement with Adnoc Onshore.

"When you think about that as it relates to post-attacks, that's where you should be able to think about Gecko's ability to understand what sort of damage has occurred, so that it increases how quickly you can get assets back up and running," Jake Loosararian, the company's chief executive and co-founder, told The National.

The robot, which uses sensors and sound waves to identify structural faults without taking facilities offline, is three to five times faster than its predecessor and can collect millions of data points during inspections. The company claims it is up to 50 times faster than competitors' robots.

Energy under threat

Since the beginning of the Iran war, energy infrastructure has been attacked across the region. Demand for the robotics firm's services has been high, with large contracts awarded for military applications.

The company is also expanding its military business, signing a $300 million agreement with the US Navy last week for robotics applications.

The military is using robotics and AI to improve the readiness and performance of critical assets, a concept that also applies to energy infrastructure during regional conflicts, Mr Loosararian said.

The technology provides data on "what to fix, how to fix it", while helping extend equipment lifespans and maintenance cycles, he added.

Show caption: Gecko Robotics chief executive Jake Loosararian. Antonie Rob…

Meet Raptor

Raptor, Gecko's new wall-climbing robot, scans the surface and captures millions of data points during its inspections.

"Raptor allows for a 50 x reduction in the cost of data collection, while also increasing the fidelity by roughly the same order of magnitude," he said.

The robot is said to save time and money for companies, which do not have to take facilities offline for assessment; the advanced monitoring technology uses sensors and sound waves for detection, which is fed back to the digital layer that maps the assets. The company is focused on safety and building "better tools" for people.

"Robotics are essential to ensure that resilience and readiness is possible in a world where we don't have a lot of these skilled workforces. And by the way, we should be building technology that makes people safe. And that's exactly what these robots are doing," he said.

Changing priorities

Mr Loosararian said energy companies need to adopt the latest technologies if they want to lead the sector.

"If you don't have a path that leads you towards a more AI-native, robotic-native way of running infrastructure, you are operating in the ancient past, and that ancient path will lead you to demise," he said.

"The energy companies that are looking more and more like tech companies are going to be the ones that win the day."

UAE manufacturing ambitions

Gecko is considering manufacturing robots in the UAE as demand grows, allowing it to develop and test the technology closer to the energy facilities where it is deployed. The company already deploys tens of robots a day in the region.

"There's an abundance of energy infrastructure in the UAE," Mr Loosararian said.

Building technology close to operating facilities would help avoid "the death of a lab", where equipment developed in controlled environments fails to perform as expected in real-world conditions, he said.

The UAE is also seeking to expand local robotics manufacturing as part of its industrial development strategy.

"Robotics is feeding a lot of sectors today, and it's enhancing and expediting production. It's becoming a big demand, not just for the production part, but also in ease of doing business for the end users," Ibtisam Al Saadi, acting assistant undersecretary for the industrial development sector at the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, told The National.

Show caption: Ibtisam Al Saadi, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for the In…

She said interest among young Emiratis in robotics programming and manufacturing was growing, alongside locally manufactured drones and 3D printing.

Gecko's expansion also includes an agreement with Adnoc Onshore, expected to be announced on Wednesday, to deploy robotics and AI models for critical infrastructure.