CONFIRMED
ANYbotics has launched ANYmal X, a legged inspection robot built for explosive atmospheres, and says deliveries to industrial customers have begun. The Robot Report, relaying company statements, dates the launch to on or about Oct 27, 2026. The open questions are the ones that matter most for a delivery story: who is actually receiving robots, and how many.
What we know
ANYbotics calls ANYmal X “the world’s first legged inspection robot for explosive atmospheres.” The Robot Report attributes that “first” to the company, and so do we. Nobody has independently verified it.
According to The Robot Report, ANYbotics says the quadruped is designed to meet strict safety standards in oil, gas and chemicals. The company says the robot runs an industrial AI stack that performs routine autonomous inspections in areas dangerous to people. That autonomy claim belongs to ANYbotics. The coverage describes no independent demonstration and no disclosure of how much teleoperation or scripted routing is involved.
ANYbotics says it built ANYmal X to comply with ATEX in Europe and IECEx globally. The hard part, the company says, was getting an ex-proof certification without giving up payload capacity, agility or operating speed. CTO Andrea Corda said the team answered the ignition-source question “component by component.” CEO Péter Fankhauser said four years of engineering and more than 10 patents went into the robot.
The company says it was spun out of ETH Zurich in 2016. It also says it has raised more than $150 million and employs about 200 people in Zurich, San Francisco and Barcelona.
What we don’t know yet
Who the first customers are. Several trade outlets relaying the announcement, including Offshore Technology, Marine Link, AI Insider and Oil & Gas Middle East, say deliveries have started to customers including Equinor and DSM-Firmenich. Those names reach us as company claims passed along by outlets outside our approved list. We have not seen them in The Robot Report’s coverage.
How many units have shipped. No source gives a number. “Deliveries have begun” could mean one robot or one hundred.
IECEx status at delivery. This is unresolved. Unite.ai, attributing the statements to ANYbotics, says Bureau Veritas issued an ATEX EU-type examination certificate covering Zones 1 and 2, Gas Group IIB, temperature class T4 and Category 2G. The same report says ANYbotics states IECEx certification will be available “with first production,” because IECEx requires an audit of the series production line. Other outlets simply call the robot “certified” for both. Complicating things further, ANYbotics’ own product page in 2022, when ANYmal X was first shown at OTC Asia, said it was approved under IECEx and ATEX for Zone 1. We could not reconcile these accounts against a primary release.
Price, payload, speed and runtime. None appear in approved sources.
What it means
Certification is the real story here, and so are its limits. Per Unite.ai, ANYbotics says ANYmal X is not intended for Zone 0, explosive dust atmospheres, or IIC gases such as hydrogen and acetylene. Charging and nitrogen refilling happen outside the hazardous area. That is a meaningful envelope: Zone 1 and 2 IIB covers a lot of refinery and chemical plant floor, but not hydrogen service and not the worst spots. If you run a hydrogen facility, this robot is not for you yet.
The hardware approach, as Automation Magazine and Offshore Technology relay it, is classic ex-protection engineering. The AI computer and inspection payloads sit in nitrogen-filled sealed chambers. The twelve leg actuators and the battery are in flameproof casings. That approach is unglamorous and well understood, which is a good sign.
The product is not new. Its history goes back to the 2022 OTC Asia debut, and ANYbotics’ page says PETRONAS has co-developed it since 2019. Robotics 24/7 and AI Insider say ANYbotics reports hundreds of onshore and offshore test missions since 2023 with BP, Equinor, Shell, PETRONAS, Petrobras, BASF and SLB through its Early Access Program. Testing is not purchasing, though, and only Equinor appears on both the tester list and the reported customer list.
What would convince us this is a commercial inflection rather than a press cycle? Three things would do it: a unit count, a named customer speaking on the record about deployment, and a clear IECEx certificate number. Until then, read this as a credible product with a real certification path and an unquantified rollout.
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