News

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Extended Upgrade

July 2021

This New Rope Robotics video is a quick look at the new extended upgrade in action

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LinkedIn

Early Summer 2021

We have gained more than 1,600 followers in total due to dedicated and concentrated marketing. From here we have proved that with dedicated work we are able to reach further into the market and gain a broader network around the world.

We are proud that our dedicated work has proven to be successful and we have been able to establish contact with even more windfarms around the globe.

Our followers are further more dedicated to the area of interest, and more than 1/3 of our followers are working with Renewables & Environment. This gives us a great indication of what our followers are interested in, which is why we have a high engagement rate from our updates.

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Test of Extended Upgrade

Spring 2021

We have been running tests the last few weeks of our upgraded BR-8 robot on a Danish windfarm. During the tests we experienced stunning results.

We learned a lot from the recent tests and can bring even better results from now on due to our upgraded robot and better performance.

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Highlights from the yearly report

December 2020

This report covered the period from February 1st to October 31st 2020 and here we share the list of achievements reached within this project period.

WP1

• Communication plan updated (D1.1)
• Stakeholder analysis
• Massive communication/dissemination activities done
• Videos produced check the RR youtube channel
• Dedicated H2020 Web released
• Amendment approved
• All deliverables mitigated successfully within Covid-19 risk

WP2-4

• A fleet of 6 robots are fully refurbished and have all been running in the field on commercial terms.
• Data acquisition model is updated to the final version. (D2.4)
• First prototype ready from the “Extended upgrade to reach the market demands concerning reduced operational process time”
• The integration of ancillary equipment is done.
• Training procedures for setting up and taking down the robot. (D3.1)
• Training concept for the robot pilots are done. (D3.4)
• The safety approval procedure is done. (D3.2)
• The access point for documentation is defined and available for the customers. (D3.3)
• All above are validated within our deployment programs
• Deployment programme 1 was finalized at the beginning of this reporting period. Acquired knowledge was transformed and positively used in deployment programme 2, which is also finalized.

WP5-6

• Important and rewarding Go-to-market activities planned and executed
• Buying behavior identified
• Plan for scaling in place
• Decided market approach
• Scalable business model in place
• Procurement agreements signed

Having completed the above, we are now ahead of the amended plan and work hard to be able to finish the project successfully.

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Demonstration in Canada

October 2020

We made a successful customer demo together with Teknos in Canada

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2nd deployment programme – Site in SE

August – September 2020

We just finalized final part of the 2nd deployment programme. We have also here finalized 5 wind turbines and again with a very good result.

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2nd deployment programme – Site in DK

July -August 2020

We just finalized first part of the 2nd deployment programme. We have finalized 5 wind turbines again with a very good result.

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Follow the project activities on SoMe….

September  2020

#H2020WindTRRo848747

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Fully refurbished robots

March – June 2020

With the following upgrade we now have 6 fully refurbished robots ready for the 2^nd deployment programme.

The upgrades were the following:

• Total rewiring
• Additional LED lights on robot arm and cabinet
• Improvements of cooling system
• Replacement of WI-FI with VDSL solution
• Improvements to limit dust entry
• Reinforcement plate for better stability
• New connectors
• Pulley got new bearings
• Mounting suction cups and support leg
• Redesign of Squeegee tool
• Installation of electronics tool change
• Redesign of wind shelter to paint tool
• Installation of fire extinguisher
• New vacuum filters

Training programme and Safety approval

During this periode of time we also finalized our

• Procedures and training programme for setting up and taking down the robot
• Procedure for the safety approval for robot operators handling the robots in the field.

The safety approval procedure is to ensure that the staff working at a site have the relevant certifications, that the risk assessment are reviewed and that the work instructions likewise are updated

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Commercial launch

April 2020

After the success in Jeffreys Bay we were ready to accelerate our business development phase.

We did an thorough stakeholder analyses and defined our communication and engagement strategy towards each stakeholder group to ensure a targeted information flow.

We had a new and updated video produced and make the first official commercial campaign!

To see the video – click:  The Rope Robotics Leading Edge Repair Solution

We had lots of positive response from the market and have had a lot of very interesting meetings with both customers, partners and suppliers.

Optimization

Simultaneous with all our commercial initiatives we have initiated further optimization of the robot process time.

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Covid-19 impact

March 2020

Unfortunately, we had to pull our staff back to Denmark and stop the operation in South Africa due to Covid-19 lock-down.

Performance of the robot was proven successful even the job was not fully completed according to original customer agreement

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First deployment programme resumed in South Africa.

January – March 2020

Middle of January were were again back in the field. This time in Jeffreys Bay in South Africa. This time we did not have instability issues and our improvements worked successfully.

During the test in Jeffreys Bay we also finalized our training and safety procedures. This is only possible if the risk assessments and associated work-instructions are in place as well.

Conclusion was that the Robot and our leading-edge repair solution was ready for commercial launching – proof of business.

We even got the following nice words from Chrisjan Cornelius, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm:

First arrival of Rope Robotics equipment to site seemed to be an ordinary delivery but this soon changed when the container door where opened.

 A well suited office / workshop /store room with everything at your fingertips.

Technology was at the forefront when you step into the Rope Robotics teams workspace.

 Jeffrey Bay accompanied 5 technicians from Rope Robotics during their project duration and it came clear why they where chosen for the this unique career path. They where experts in their field and all round spot-on guys with safety at the forefront.

 With the high risk in elevated work Rope Robotics will be the answer to a reduced risk when doing elevated work. 

 The repair process has to be documented and is of high importance to us & with the robot this was done in the most detailed manner I have ever seen. The robot was in its element every step of the leading edge repair process being it sanding, cleaning, applying filler & spray painting.

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First deployment programme

June – December 2019

First field test was running summer 2019 in Bassens, North West Germany.  The robot operation is of course the main turning point of the test, but it is also about the planning, preparation and the completion of the set-up. We have a lot of positive highlights from the test:

• The operational set-up worked well
• The robot upgrades worked well
• The site set-up worked efficiently
• The communication set-up worked well
• The data logging worked well
• The repair process became documented down to every specific detail
• We repaired blades according to industry specifications

Unfortunately we also ran into serious challenges. Some of the repair process steps were too time consuming due to instability. We went back to our workshop test facilities, ran systematized test sprints which gave us the needed data for a thorough analysis. We fixed the issues and were again ready to go back into the field.

New test planed during winter season in South Africa.

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Serie of 3 robots constructed

February – May 2019

We have built the 3 robots with new improvements implemented.

We have adjusted the design according to our knowledge gained from earlier testing. We upgraded the robot with a better cooling system, closed off for dust intrusion and redesigned our squeegee tool. The squeegee is the tool used to shape the leading-edge of the blade.

We are ready to start the first deployment programme where we are going to validate the robots in a standard operational environment.

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Received funding approval by H2020

January 2019

We are very delighted to announce: “Rope Robotics has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 848747”

The project starts February 2019