# ANYbotics Took Orders for an Explosion-Proof Robot Dog in 2022. Deliveries Started This Week.

> Markdown twin of https://roboterminal.app/posts/anymal-x-explosion-proof-deliveries · https://roboterminal.app/posts/anymal-x-explosion-proof-deliveries.md

**Published:** 2026-10-27

ANYbotics said on October 27 that ANYmal X, a four-legged inspection robot certified for ATEX Zones 1 and 2 in oil, gas and chemical plants, has begun shipping to customers including Equinor and DSM-Firmenich, more than three years after opening orders in September 2022 with deliveries promised for mid-2023, while the certificate still excludes hydrogen, dust and Zone 0 and IECEx awaits a production-line audit.

ANYmal X, a four-legged inspection robot built to walk through areas of oil, gas and chemical plants where a spark could ignite the air, began shipping to customers including Equinor and DSM-Firmenich on October 27. Deliveries were first promised for mid-2023. The gap was the certificate, and the certificate still has edges: no hydrogen areas, charging outside the zone, and the global IECEx mark still waiting on a factory audit.

**Companies:** [ANYbotics](https://roboterminal.app/companies/anybotics), [ExRobotics](https://roboterminal.app/companies/exrobotics), [Equinor](https://roboterminal.app/companies/equinor), [Petrobras](https://roboterminal.app/companies/petrobras)

**Tags:** quadrupeds, inspection, anybotics, oil-and-gas, certification, safety, deployments

[ANYbotics](https://roboterminal.app/companies/anybotics), the Zurich company behind the ANYmal four-legged robot, said on October 27 that it has started delivering ANYmal X, a version built to work in the parts of oil, gas and chemical plants where flammable gas may be in the air. The robot "is now shipping to several oil, gas, and chemical industry leaders, including [Equinor](https://roboterminal.app/companies/equinor) and DSM-Firmenich," the company said, and BP, Shell, PETRONAS, [Petrobras](https://roboterminal.app/companies/petrobras), BASF and SLB have tested it "across hundreds of onshore and offshore missions" since 2023 (https://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2026/10/anybotics-starts-customer-deliveries-of-anymal-x-the-world-s-first-legged-robot-built-for-explosive-atmospheres/).

The job is the walk-around inspection round that plant operators do on foot today: reading gauges, listening to pumps and compressors, checking for hot spots and leaks. ANYmal X carries a zoom camera, a thermal camera, an acoustic imager that "locates gas and air leaks by imaging their sound," and an optional gas sensor. It climbs 45-degree stairs and runs for "more than 3 hours" per charge (https://www.anybotics.com/robotics/anymal-x/).

Our view: the robot was never the slow part. **ANYmal X opened for orders in September 2022 with more than 500 units reserved and a promise of first deliveries in mid-2023. It shipped more than three years later because certification was the product. The number that now matters is how many of those reservations turn into robots on plant floors, and ANYbotics has not said.**

## Four years from order book to delivery

The order book came first. On September 28, 2022, ANYbotics said it was opening commercial orders, that "over 500 ANYmal X units" were "already reserved," and that "the first deliveries of ANYmal X units to selected customers will commence in mid-2023" (https://www.anybotics.com/news/anymal-x-commercial-launch-sprint-conference/). By November 2023 the reservation figure was "over 600," and Petrobras said it had put US$4 million into six units, to arrive in 2024 for testing and development (https://www.anybotics.com/news/petrobras-and-anybotics-join-efforts-to-automate-offshore-fpso-inspections/, https://agencia.petrobras.com.br/w/inovacao/petrobras-investe-em-robos-para-automatizar-inspecoes-em-suas-instalacoes). That works out to roughly $670,000 per robot if the whole sum went to hardware, which the releases do not say (arithmetic).

Deliveries began on October 27, 2026, about three years and four months after the first target (arithmetic). Chief executive Péter Fankhauser put it this way: "Four years of pioneering engineering with more than ten patents went into ANYmal X. Many experts thought a legged robot could never be made safe for explosive atmospheres" (https://www.therobotreport.com/anybotics-begins-delivering-anymal-x-legged-robot-explosive-atmospheres/).

## Why a walking robot is hard to make spark-proof

Everything carried into these areas, "from radios to flashlights," must be certified not to ignite the atmosphere "even when something fails," the company notes. Fixed equipment usually gets there in one of two ways: a heavy explosion-proof box, or so little electrical energy that a spark can't light anything. "A legged robot cannot use either approach," ANYbotics says, because it needs strong motors and a big battery in a body light enough to climb stairs (https://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2026/10/anybotics-starts-customer-deliveries-of-anymal-x-the-world-s-first-legged-robot-built-for-explosive-atmospheres/).

So the company worked through failure cases one part at a time. Chief technology officer Andrea Corda described the question as "which credible event in the life of a walking robot could create an ignition source, and how do we make sure it never does?" The answers include sealed chambers filled with nitrogen for the computer and sensors, flameproof casings on all twelve leg motors and the battery, non-metallic shells, feet that conduct static to ground, and temperature cutoffs.

The certificate is the result. Bureau Veritas, an independent testing body, has "issued an ATEX EU-type examination certificate for Zones 1 and 2," the European approval for areas where flammable gas is likely or occasionally present (https://www.anybotics.com/robotics/anymal-x/).

## What the certificate covers, and what it leaves out

The approval has clear edges, and ANYbotics lists them itself. The robot is rated for Gas Group IIB at temperature class T4. It "is not intended for Zone 0, explosive dust atmospheres or IIC gases such as hydrogen and acetylene." That rules out the most hazardous zones, grain and powder handling, and hydrogen units (https://www.anybotics.com/robotics/anymal-x/).

The robot also cannot refuel where it works. "Charging and nitrogen refilling take place outside the hazardous area," on a floor-mounted dock in "a sheltered, non-hazardous area" that needs about 2 by 2 meters with the nitrogen station. Every round has to start and end outside the zone, so a site has to plan routes around where the dock can go.

The global certificate is not done yet. IECEx, the international scheme many operators outside Europe ask for, "requires an audit of the series production line, which starts after launch," the company says, adding that "nothing is missing in the design." Its page does not mention a North American hazardous-location listing.

None of this is unusual for a first certified product. It does mean "certified for explosive atmospheres" is a narrower claim than it sounds, and a buyer's first question will be which of their areas the robot is actually allowed to walk.

## First legged, not first robot

ANYbotics calls ANYmal X "the world's first legged inspection robot for explosive atmospheres." The word "legged" carries that claim. [ExRobotics](https://roboterminal.app/companies/exrobotics), a Dutch maker of tracked inspection robots, says its ExR-2.5 is certified for "ATEX, IECEx Zone 1, and UL Listed for North America" (https://www.exrobotics.com/certification). In June, UL Solutions said the ExR-2.5 was the first robot to earn its new UL 6260 certification for hazardous locations (https://www.ul.com/news/ul-solutions-issues-its-first-certification-remotely-operated-robot-designed-hazardous).

The pitch for legs is stairs and multi-level platforms. Back in 2022 ANYbotics argued that "compared to tracked and wheeled robots, only legged robots" can handle "industrial stairs and confined spaces" (https://www.anybotics.com/news/anymal-x-commercial-launch-sprint-conference/). For a plant built around steep stairways, that is a real advantage. For one with ramps and flat decks, a tracked robot that already holds the North American and global marks may be the easier purchase.

When Korea cleared humanoids to work beside people this month, the safety standard written for them was still a draft (https://roboterminal.app/posts/korea-humanoid-sandbox-safety-rules). Hazardous-area inspection is the opposite case: the rules have long been written, and ANYmal X is a product whose launch date was set by meeting them, not by the engineering team.

## Objections

**"Big oil has tested this for three years. Demand is proven."** Testing is proven. ANYbotics' own Early Access Program, Petrobras' six units "for testing and development," and hundreds of missions are pilots. The company has named two delivery customers and given no unit count, price or order total for this launch.

**"The 50 customers and 120,000 inspections a month show scale."** Those figures, from chief revenue officer Thierry Obédé, describe customers in "power, metals, and materials" using ANYbotics' system, which includes its standard ANYmal robot. They are not ANYmal X numbers (https://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2026/10/anybotics-starts-customer-deliveries-of-anymal-x-the-world-s-first-legged-robot-built-for-explosive-atmospheres/).

**"The $102 billion market is waiting."** That is the company's figure for the whole oil, gas and chemical inspection market, along with downtime costs of "up to $500,000" an hour it attributes to Siemens. Robots will take only the share of that work in areas a certificate allows and on routes a dock can serve.

## Three things to check

1. **By December 31, 2026:** Does ANYbotics publish the IECEx certificate it says will come "with first production"? Without it, sales outside ATEX markets are harder.
2. **At ADIPEC, November 2–5, 2026:** ANYbotics is showing ANYmal X with SLB and Kuwait Oil Company in Abu Dhabi. Watch for a Gulf operator order with a unit count, not a demonstration.
3. **By mid-2027:** Does the company give a delivered-unit figure against the 600-plus reservations it reported in 2023? That single number will say whether this is a product line or a pilot fleet.

## Sources

- [The Robot Report, ANYmal X deliveries begin](https://www.therobotreport.com/anybotics-begins-delivering-anymal-x-legged-robot-explosive-atmospheres/)
- [Hydrocarbon Processing, ANYmal X customer deliveries](https://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2026/10/anybotics-starts-customer-deliveries-of-anymal-x-the-world-s-first-legged-robot-built-for-explosive-atmospheres/)
- [ANYbotics, ANYmal X product page](https://www.anybotics.com/robotics/anymal-x/)
- [ANYbotics, ANYmal X commercial launch](https://www.anybotics.com/news/anymal-x-commercial-launch-sprint-conference/)
- [ANYbotics, Petrobras FPSO inspection partnership](https://www.anybotics.com/news/petrobras-and-anybotics-join-efforts-to-automate-offshore-fpso-inspections/)
- [Petrobras, inspection robot investment](https://agencia.petrobras.com.br/w/inovacao/petrobras-investe-em-robos-para-automatizar-inspecoes-em-suas-instalacoes)
- [ExRobotics, hazardous-area certification](https://www.exrobotics.com/certification)
- [UL Solutions, ExR-2.5 UL 6260 certification](https://www.ul.com/news/ul-solutions-issues-its-first-certification-remotely-operated-robot-designed-hazardous)

## Citation

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Source: Roboterminal · {url}
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Source: Roboterminal · https://roboterminal.app/posts/anymal-x-explosion-proof-deliveries.md