Teledyne FLIR Defense has announced the partnership with MFE Inspection Solutions to integrate the FLIR MUVE C360 multi-gas detector on Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot and commercial unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The integrated solutions will enable remote monitoring of chemical threats in industrial and public safety applications.
The compact multi-gas detector can detect and classify airborne gas or chemical hazards, allowing inspection personnel to perform their job more safely and efficiently with integrated remote sensing capabilities from both the air and ground.
MUVE C360 is designed to operate on Boston Dynamics‘ Spot mobile robot, which can autonomously inspect dangerous, inaccessible, or remote environments. It is also compatible with common commercial UAS systems, which allow operators to fly the C360 into a scene to perform hazard assessments in real-time.
“By deploying a chemical detector on drones and ground robots, industrial managers can identify dangerous situations from a safe distance, keeping operators out of harm’s way and speeding corrective measures,” said Dr. David Cullin, vice president and general manager of Unmanned and Integrated Solutions at Teledyne FLIR Defense.
The MUVE C360 delivers continuous threat information in real-time and is fully integrated with commonly used enterprise UAS platforms, including the Teledyne FLIR SkyRanger, which offers secure data communications for defense and homeland security applications as well as unmatched flight capabilities.
Boston Dynamics’ introduced its head-less dog-like Spot robot for sale in June 2020, with a starting price of $74,500. Spot can reach the place humans are unable or unwilling to reach for various reasons. This means it is ideal for a variety of environments and hazardous situations, and several companies are already using it in such a capacity, for example, to inspect ancient streets and large construction sites, patrol oil and gas production vessels, and more.
In September 2021, the robo-dog received update 3.0, which added independence to it and helped it adapt to the world even better. The new update allows the Spot to move faster, provides upgrades to the onboard pan-tilt-zoom camera, and gives it access to platforms like AWS, Azure, or IBM Maximo.
