TankCrawl Robot | Hardware Product Concept
TankCrawl Robot
Robot crawls tank shell/steel structures to map corrosion and wall thickness.
Designed for NDT teams. Source profile: Idea / Research; feasibility: Medium; prototype complexity: High.
Project text and technical scope
Problem addressed
Current Oil & Gas / Industrial workflows often depend on manual checks, disconnected devices and delayed evidence.
Product vision
Robot crawls tank shell/steel structures to map corrosion and wall thickness.
Hardware platform
Magnetic crawler + camera + UT thickness probe
Sensors and inputs
Video, UT thickness, position
AI and software
Defect detection and thickness mapping
User workflow
NDT teams use the device in-field; the system captures data, analyses it, requests human confirmation where needed and records the outcome.
Edge processing
Run latency/privacy-critical inference on device/edge; use server for fleet analytics, RAG, orchestration and reporting.
Connectivity
Tether/Wi-Fi
Mobile experience
Device pairing, live status, guided workflow, alerts, evidence review, offline sync and user actions.
Operations console
Fleet/device map, live events, health, incident queue, analytics, reports, configuration and audit history.
Safety and compliance
NDT procedure/certification requirements.
Operational value
Robot + analytics; value comes from measurable safety, traceability, downtime reduction or workflow automation.
Security and privacy
Secure device identity, encrypted transport/storage, RBAC, audit logs, minimum necessary personal data and configurable retention.
Commercial model
Robot + analytics
Differentiation
Combines NDT data with visual AI map.
Demo scenario
Show a realistic operator using TankCrawl Robot; capture sensor/device event → AI analysis → alert/recommendation → human action → report.