China’s robotics industry is moving into a less crowded niche: high-altitude working robots. Zhejiang-based RobotPlusPlus is promoting an autonomous climbing robot built for ship hull cleaning and descaling. The company says the system can cover more than 98 percent of a vessel’s hull. Compared with manual labour it claims to raise cleaning efficiency five times while cutting costs by 30 to 50 percent. The robots are presented as safer than human workers on large ships that often stand more than 21 metres high. Founder Xu Huayang said industrial robots for factories face intense competition, aerial robots are dominated by DJI, and underwater robots remain uncertain. He sees working-at-height as a segment with strong demand but few mature products. The robots attach magnetically and are designed to handle curved surfaces, helping shipyards deal with safety rules and an ageing workforce while potentially extending vessel service life.
China’s robotics industry is moving into a less crowded niche: high-altitude working robots. Zhejiang-based RobotPlusPlus is promoting an autonomous climbing robot built for ship hull cleaning and descaling. The company says the system can cover more than 98 percent of a vessel’s hull. Compared with manual labour it claims to raise cleaning efficiency five times while cutting costs by 30 to 50 percent. The robots are presented as safer than human workers on large ships that often stand more than 21 metres high. Founder Xu Huayang said industrial robots for factories face intense competition, aerial robots are dominated by DJI, and underwater robots remain uncertain. He sees working-at-height as a segment with strong demand but few mature products. The robots attach magnetically and are designed to handle curved surfaces, helping shipyards deal with safety rules and an ageing workforce while potentially extending vessel service life.