For increasing the patrol frequency of petrochemical plants to ensure reliability while conserving manpower, the robotization of plant patrol checks is being demanded by domestic and foreign petroleum gas operators. However, due to the problems of making a robot explosion-proof, almost no robots satisfy these needs. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has already developed a land-mobile, explosion-proof robot that can be controlled wirelessly within flammable gas atmospheres. Currently, by utilizing this explosion-proof mobility establishment technology, we are promoting the development of an explosion-proof robot for autonomous plant operation to satisfy the above needs earlier than other countries. The robot under development moves autonomously with map information and sensor information, and can automatically acquire plant information such as images of instruments, thermal images, gas concentrations, etc., using the on-board cameras, gas detectors, etc.
