ANYbotics began customer deliveries of ANYmal X on October 27, 2026, marking what the Zurich-based company calls the world's first legged inspection robot engineered for explosive atmospheres2,4. Initial customers include Equinor and DSM-Firmenich.
The quadruped robot is designed to meet ATEX and IECEx explosion-protection standards, addressing a barrier that has kept autonomous mobile robots out of areas containing flammable gases or vapors. ANYbotics said four years of engineering and more than ten patents went into the system5.
Industrial AI stack and sensor suite
ANYmal X uses what ANYbotics describes as an advanced industrial AI stack to conduct routine autonomous inspections in environments dangerous to people. Integrated thermal, visual, acoustic, and gas sensors monitor pumps, compressors, valves, and piping for overheating, leaks, abnormal noise, and equipment deterioration. The robot navigates stairs, narrow walkways, and complex industrial infrastructure without requiring facility modifications.
Each robot operates as part of ANYbotics' end-to-end inspection solution, combining autonomous navigation and industrial AI with integration into existing plant maintenance software. The company said ANYmal X runs on its Shift operations platform, which schedules autonomous inspection rounds and associates collected measurements with individual assets.
Early access and customer base
Since 2023, BP, Equinor, Shell, PETRONAS, Petrobras, BASF, and SLB have tested ANYmal X across hundreds of onshore and offshore missions through ANYbotics' Early Access Program3. ANYbotics said feedback from those deployments helped refine the industrial-grade robot now being delivered.
Beyond the oil and gas sector, ANYbotics reports that its existing inspection systems conduct more than 120,000 autonomous inspections monthly across over 50 customers in power, metals, and materials industries.
"Many experts thought a legged robot could never be made safe for explosive atmospheres," said Péter Fankhauser, co-founder and CEO of ANYbotics. "Oil, gas and chemical plants are among the most hazardous and most costly places to operate. That makes them the prime case for physical and industrial AI, yet until now the areas that matter most were off-limits to robots like ours. That changes today".
ANYbotics, spun out of ETH Zurich in 2016, has about 200 employees in Zurich, San Francisco, and Barcelona and said it is backed by more than $150 million from European and Silicon Valley investors.