2027 Event Agenda

This panel presentation will provide an overview of Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s 36-month pilot using the ANYbotics ANYmal robot to assist with substation inspection.  The motivation of the pilot was to enhance repeatability and volume of data collection during substation inspection. Due to the nature of using handheld instruments such as infrared cameras or partial discharge detection, inspectors had to be selective of which measurements were taken on which substation equipment.  With substation inspectors partnering with the ANYbotics ANYmal, and traveling together by van between substations, they were able to commission the robot to automate collection of both measurements on all equipment, prescreen for anomalies, and leave robot oversight and more detailed investigation to the human inspectors.  With the success of this pilot to date, SMUD has decided to scale this inspection model across its entire substation fleet of 270+ substations.

The moderated discussion will share utility and vendor perspectives on how to deliver a successful pilot, reach a decision to scale, workforce development & change management, and challenges & opportunities.  Among future opportunities, SMUD and ANYbotics will share additional uses cases in active scoping intended to reduce the amount of human time put into harm’s way, such as substation physical security and hydroelectric penstock tunnel inspection.