ANYbotics Begins Shipping ANYmal X Four-Legged Inspection Robot for Explosive Atmospheres

ANYbotics announced on October 27, 2026, that it had begun customer shipments of ANYmal X, a four-legged inspection robot for use in explosive atmospheres in the oil, gas and chemical industries. The company calls it the world's first legged inspection robot designed for explosive atmospheres.

ANYmal X is designed to record thermal, visual, acoustic and gas inspection results by asset and connect them to maintenance systems through Shift, making it relevant to automating routine patrols in hazardous areas that people have traditionally conducted. ANYbotics says the robot does not require facility modifications, but its applicability depends on the conditions of its explosion-protection certification. Adoption will therefore depend on the scope of that certification and the requirements for connecting to existing systems.

The announcement is about more than unveiling a robot for hazardous areas. It presents the robot, which handles mobility and inspections in explosive atmospheres, together with Shift, which organizes inspection readings by asset and feeds them into maintenance operations as a single operating system. In particular, the company’s statements that the robot requires no facility modifications and can connect to existing maintenance systems put the focus not only on the robot’s safety but also on how its observations can be incorporated into existing workflows. The system follows the concept covered in ANYbotics unveils Shift robot fleet operations platform, connecting inspection data to maintenance work (October 1, 2026), which links robots, factory models, inspection data and maintenance systems. In this announcement, ANYbotics showed how sensor readings from a robot operating in a hazardous area can be linked to assets and connected to systems from SAP, Yokogawa and SLB. The announcement can be read as applying the platform concept to inspections in explosive atmospheres. By contrast, the platform described in NVIDIA adds training, evaluation and deployment tools for world models to Cosmos (October 22, 2026) serves a different role, providing infrastructure from data generation through deployment. ANYmal X’s announcement describes a path for linking observations collected in the field to equipment maintenance information; it does not say that the system includes the generation or evaluation of training data. Technically, unlike explosion-protection measures for fixed equipment, a walking robot requires high-power motors, a large-capacity battery, exposed cameras and sensors, and autonomous docking. The company said it had to secure explosion-protection certification for each of these components. The product’s scope of application therefore depends not only on mobility but also on the certification conditions for each component and whether the robot can operate without interrupting inspections. The design records sensor readings by asset and uses them to track condition over time and inform digital facility models, positioning the robot not merely as a way to automate patrols but also as a device for gathering maintenance data. Questions to watch include the specific explosion-protection standards and areas covered, operating time and inspection range, and the number of units actually deployed and their operating status. The announcement did not provide figures for these points or explain how collected data might be used for training or evaluation. Safety in hazardous areas and the extent to which recorded data informs maintenance decisions should be assessed separately.

ANYmal X is equipped with thermal, visual, acoustic and gas sensors to detect overheating, leaks, abnormal sounds and equipment wear. The company says it can navigate steep stairs and narrow passageways and is designed to operate without facility modifications. Inspection readings are recorded against the corresponding equipment assets. The robot operates on Shift, an autonomous inspection operations platform that schedules missions, organizes inspection results by asset and tracks changes over time. Shift shows connections to systems from SAP, Yokogawa and SLB. The company says the overall system is developed and operated in accordance with ISO 27001. ANYbotics said development took four years and resulted in more than 10 patents.