SPRINT Robotics is pleased to announce that Qlayers is the winner of the CFM Challenge.
Based in the Netherlands, Qlayers’ winning solution is an automated coating application robot that applies coating on storage tanks in a fast, safe and reliable way without having any overspray. With this technology, the layer thickness applied can be monitored on every position on the tank. Qlayers is piloting their coating solution around the world to scale to different continents.
The CFM Challenge was initiated and managed by several subject matter experts from major oil & gas and petrochemical companies that form the SPRINT Robotics Task Force Cleaning & Fabric Maintenance.
As the winning solution provider, Qlayers will receive a reward of €50.000 and the opportunity to further develop their solution and its application through direct meetings with the SPRINT Robotics Task Force Cleaning & Fabric Maintenance. The solution is intended to be deployed on a client site (or virtually in a simulated environment), where the providers can see their solutions in action and gain valuable information from the full-scale real-world deployment.
Qlayers CEO Josefien Groot commented:
“We are very honored and grateful to be the winner of this challenge. We started Qlayers four years ago with a vision to coat industrial surfaces in a fast, safe, reliable and sustainable way all around the world and we are getting closer to this vision every day. While based in the Netherlands, we are very much looking forward to our first projects on other continents next year. We will definitely use this prize money in the best way possible for our technology development to serve customers all around the world, making the coating process of industrial surfaces more reliable, sustainable and safe.”
The CFM Challenge called on companies to present new robotic solutions for the Cleaning & Fabric Maintenance of capital-intensive infrastructure, focusing on existing and new robotic tools near commercialization that can eliminate Confined Space Entries (CSE), Scaffolding, or Rope Access (RA) while performing cleaning or fabric maintenance activities. The CFM Challenge was initiated by several subject matter experts from major oil & gas and petrochemical companies that form the SPRINT Robotics Task Force Cleaning & Fabric Maintenance.
