Robotic dog spots problems in brewery

Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot conducts 1,800 individual inspections each week across ten packaging lines that churn out over 50,000 containers of Stella Artois, Budweiser, and Corona beer every hour. 

In its first six months of deployment, Spot discovered nearly 150 anomalies and slashed average repair times from a few months to 13 days.

AB InBev strategic projects acceleration manager David Gregory says: “Our machinery experiences a lot of wear over time, so predictive maintenance is a top priority. Spot is seeing more than double the anomalies we were expecting, but we’re also now able to make repairs and see performance increases and energy reduction within the brewery.”

Plant manager Olivier Maillet adds: “When you see Spot walking around in an area, it brings a smile to people’s faces,” said. “For us in the brewery, it’s our dog and it’s a colleague that’s helping our operating procedures and our sustainability agenda. So everybody’s looking at Spot in a really positive way.”

Spot focuses on two types of inspections: thermal and acoustic. When mechanical parts begin to wear out, they tend to generate heat. Spot uses a thermal camera to provide visual evidence of excess heat emanating from problem areas.

In one case, Spot identified a faulty transport motor that would have shut down a packaging line for at least 6 hours. Spot has also discovered gearboxes low on oil and faulty motor fans. By performing these tedious, repetitive inspections, Spot frees up staff to focus on repairs.