Aerones raises $38.9M for robots to clean wind turbines

-

Aerones, a company that creates robots that scrub and inspect wind turbines, brought in $38.9 million in funding, according to TechCrunch. The funding came from dozens of undisclosed investors, and the company hopes to bring in $2.5 million more, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Aerones uses robots operated by three Aerons technicians. The robots clean the towers and blades of wind turbines, which can leak hundreds of liters of oil causing corroded blades, increased wind resistance and pollution in the ground below. 

The robots blast the blades and towers with a liquid biodegradable detergent. As the robot cleans, the water used for cleaning is collected by skits and belts and pumped into a filtering station. Once the water is filtered, it can be safely reused. Aerones’ robots also use cameras and ultrasound scanners to inspect the turbine. 

Aerones claims its robots can help minimize downtime on wind turbines by 4-6 times and reduce idle stay by 5-10 times. The company has cleaned over 5,000 turbines to date across 19 different countries, an over 2,000 increase in turbines cleaned since April of this year when the company claimed it had serviced over 3,000 turbines in 17 countries. 

Despite its rapid growth, Aerones still has plenty of room to expand in the industry. There are more than 70,800 wind turbines in the U.S., which, in 2021, generated around 9% of all electricity in the U.S.

In April 2022, Aerones raised $9 million in seed funding. It planned to use the funding to further accelerate the global scaling of its system. Its investors included Future Positive Capital, an existing investor Change Ventures, Skype founder Jaan Tallinn, Pace Ventures, EcoSummit and more.

 Aerones has partnerships with some of the largest wind companies, including Siemens Gamesa, Enel, GE and Vestas. 

The post Aerones raises $38.9M for robots to clean wind turbines appeared first on The Robot Report.



from The Robot Report - Robotics News, Analysis & Research https://ift.tt/yHNIBEu
via artificialconference

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Valiant TMS and Realtime Robotics partner to cut programming, cycle times

-
Image
Valiant TMS is integrating robot motion optimization as a service. Source: Realtime Robotics Realtime Robotics today announced that Valiant TMS will integrate its Optimization-as-a-Service offering with customers’ manufacturing operations. The companies said the combination of Realtime’s proprietary software and engineering expertise with Valiant TMS’s manufacturing industry experience will improve the efficiency and productivity of automated operations. With Optimization-as-a-Service, companies can identify and eliminate production bottlenecks, significantly reducing cycle time and programming time, said Realtime Robotics. “Manufacturers are always looking for ways to improve their production processes, but few have the time or resources to spend on such a lengthy, involved task,” said Peter Howard, CEO of Realtime Robotics, in a release . “We’re thrilled that our optimization solution has struck a chord with so many, automating the task of generating and testing potential layou...
Read more

Ocado wins UK patent lawsuit over Autostore

-
Image
On the left, Autostore’s ASRS, and on the right, Ocado’s ASRS. | Source: Autostore, Ocado Yesterday, the UK High Court ruled that Autostore’s patents, which have been the subject of a patent infringement case against Ocado , were invalid, and that Ocado did not infringe upon them. Both Autostore and Ocado operate automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) that operate on similar principles. Autostore filed the lawsuit in October 2020, when it asserted that Ocado infringed upon six of its patents. The European Patent Office invalidated two of these patents before judgment was made on the case, and two other patents were withdrawn by Autostore before the hearing started.  Judge Hacon invalidated the remaining two patents because AutoStore had disclosed its technology publically in a business deal with the Central Bank of Russia before the company filed its patents. Halcon ruled that even if the patents were valid, the Ocado Smart Platform (OSP) did not infringe on the...
Read more

Update on AgTech automation at CNHI

-
Image
The Robot Report Podcast · Update on AgTech automation at CNHI The Robot Report Podcast · 2023 year in review: GenAI, humanoids dominate robotics industry   In Episode 138 of The Robot Report Podcast, co-hosts Mike Oitzman and Eugene Demaitre catch up with Marc Kermisch, global chief digital and information officer at CNH Industrial, or CNHI. Kermisch takes us through the latest developments at CNHI in agriculture autonomy and digitization, explaining how robots and data can help farmers and growers improve yields and efficiency. We also recap the latest robotics news and walk through an update from robotics and automation companies that attended this month’s 2024 CES show. News of the week Locus Robotics layoffs The mobile robot maker last week confirmed that it had a “small, targeted RIF,” or reduction in force. North American robot orders dropped last year, according to the Association for Advancing Automation ( A3 ). Warehouse construction also declined by 2...
Read more