Energid Technologies Corporation has developed a prototype robot that will be used for heat exchanger inspection in nuclear power plants. The robot will form part of an inspection system being developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).

Energid has designed the robotic vehicle, developed the prototype and provided software integration. The robot uses advanced control and machine vision algorithms for movement and manipulation.

Verification tests have been performed using the prototype robot in Energid’s lab in Burlington, Massachusetts and the prototype hardware and control algorithms have both passed stringent tests.

The prototype robot is an important component of the full heat exchanger inspection system under development at MHI. MHI is planning to apply all or part of the new technologies that Energid have developed into their next generation of heat exchange generator robots.