Case Study: National Grid improves inspection safety and uptime with Boston Dynamics Spot

Energy giant National Grid is using Spot to keep employees safe and ensure uptime at a critical facility

National Grid, a major energy utility, faced the challenge of inspecting the energized and hazardous thyristor valve hall at its Sandy Pond Converter Station. The high-voltage environment posed a serious risk to employees and made it difficult to monitor equipment for issues like coolant leaks without a facility shutdown. To address this, they partnered with vendor Boston Dynamics to explore using their Spot robot for a safe robotic inspection solution.

The solution implemented was Boston Dynamics' quadrupedal Spot robot, equipped with optical zoom and infrared cameras. Spot was successfully tested to ensure it could operate without electromagnetic interference in the high-voltage environment and could be controlled to maintain safe distances from equipment. The robot provided actionable thermal and visual data, identifying potential hot spots and leaks. This allowed National Grid to improve employee safety by removing them from harm's way and gather valuable information for predictive maintenance.

National Grid

Dean Berlin

Lead Engineer