Runner-up · Robotics · Industrial maintenance
Ship-maintenance robots move coating work off scaffolds.
RobotPlusPlus demonstrated a magnetic coating robot with overspray recovery for ships, tanks and bridges, alongside ATEX-certified cleaning and blasting systems for hazardous industrial maintenance.
The HighMate AP-F-CO attaches magnetically to curved steel surfaces down to a three-meter radius and uses two spray nozzles with adjustable spacing and travel speed. The company rates coating production at 300–500 square meters per hour while recovering overspray rather than releasing it around workers and the site.
A related ATEX Zone 1-certified carrier supports hydro-blasting, cleaning, coating and abrasive-blasting modules, with claimed throughput above 40 square meters per hour and wastewater recovery above 99%. The systems were demonstrated at SMM 2026, but RobotPlusPlus did not name a customer, full-asset turnaround or independently measured quality result for the new coating configuration.
Read original story ↗01
What changed
Magnetic crawlers already perform hull cleaning and surface preparation. What changed on September 24 is the international introduction of a coating-plus-VOC-recovery configuration with published curvature and production specifications, alongside an ATEX modular platform for hazardous sites.
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Why it matters
Working at height on ships, tanks and bridges combines exposure to paint, blasting media, wastewater and falls with intense schedule pressure. A robot that keeps workers off scaffolds while controlling coating speed and collecting waste could change both safety and turnaround economics. The modular carrier also suggests a broader maintenance platform rather than one narrowly programmed machine. Yet coating quality is unforgiving: adhesion, film thickness, edge coverage, weather tolerance and rework matter more than demo throughput. Operators should treat the published rates as a procurement hypothesis until a named industrial asset reports sustained uptime, quality and total turnaround cost.
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What to watch
Watch for a named shipyard, storage-tank or bridge deployment; full-shift uptime; coating-thickness and rework data; consumables use; waste recovery; and labor-hour comparisons across an entire maintenance project.
Why it was a runner-up
The equipment addresses a specific high-risk maintenance workflow, but the performance figures are vendor claims and no named customer operating result was published.
Impact: 75/100 · Confidence: 82/100
RobotPlusPlus publishes detailed mechanical, throughput, certification and recovery specifications and demonstrated the systems at SMM. Confidence is moderated because the release is vendor-authored and lacks a named customer or independent operating result for the new coating robot.
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