Last week the SPRINT Robotics World Conference for Inspection & Maintenance Robotics was held in Amsterdam, one of Europe’s most beautiful cities and the commercial capital of the Netherlands. Delegates from around the globe participated in a full two-day program featuring insights from international speakers and cutting-edge technologies on the exposition floor. This edition of the World Conference boasted more exhibitors and conference delegates than ever before. Key to the success of the event was the opportunity to network, share perspectives on technology deployment and scaling, and see the impressive strides that I&M robotics have made.
The keynote speeches and panel sessions of the World Conference hit on many inflection points such as supporting the value chain, nurturing the ecosystem, working towards facilities of the future, and success factors for the uptake of robotics. We were honored to have Constantijn van Oranje, Special Envoy at Techleap.nl, take part in a very captivating opening panel session around startups, scale-up companies and the role of asset owners.
The different tracks and speakers reflected that the SPRINT Robotics World Conference is the premier place to gain insight into the global status of Inspection & Maintenance robotics. Represented in the program were different focus areas ranging from offshore operations to wind turbine inspection and maintenance; uses cases that addressed new technologies, deployment and scaling; and solutions ranging from drones to digital twins.
Throughout the two-day conference, live demonstrations of cutting-edge robots and drones took place in the Technology Demo Area and on the exposition floor. A special evening banquet was held at the Koepelkerk, a historical and authentic location in the heart of Amsterdam. Central to the banquet evening was the SPRINT Robotics Awards Ceremony which honor exceptional work in Inspection and Maintenance robotics in our society. The finalists and first-place winners in three different categories were announced. The SPRINT Robotics Award for Groundbreaking Collaborative Work towards Acceptance of Inspection and Maintenance Robotics went to Waygate Technologies and PETRONAS. Runner-up in this category was Flyability; Taurob received third prize. Diakont was the winner of the SPRINT Robotics Award for Scaling of a Robotic Solution, with finalists ExRobotics & Energy Robotics pulling in second prize and Thread (formerly Airtonomy), third prize. The SPRINT Robotics Award for New Innovative Technology in Inspection, Maintenance or Cleaning was awarded to a collaborative effort by Voliro, Shell and Intertek. Flyability and ANYbotics were awarded second and third prizes respectively.
New to this year’s edition was a networking lunch “Women and Robotics – Workforce of the Future”, a well attended initiative that sparked interesting discussions and laid groundwork for follow up sessions. A day prior to the conference, RIMA and SPRINT Robotics partnered with TNO and University of Twente to host the RIMA Projects Pitching Event where SMEs funded by RIMA had the opportunity to pitch their solutions in front of an end user- and VC panel.
For all who joined us in Amsterdam, THANK YOU for attending!
We would like to take this opportunity to also thank our sponsors for supporting our event.
Platinum Sponsor Waygate Technologies
Gold Sponsors Thread, Yokogawa, and Quasset
SPRINT Robotics excels at bringing Inspection & Maintenance robotics professionals together, helping to bridge collaboration between asset owners and operators, and technology suppliers. Upcoming events include the Asia-Pacific Summit in Singapore on March 22-23, 2023, and the next World Conference which will take place in Houston in Q3/Q4 2023.
DAY 1 – Recap
DAY 2 – Recap
