What can Anymal robot dog do?

Robodog can use Wi-Fi and 4G/LTE to communicate with sensors and operators. The robot is equipped with zoom cameras, thermal imager, microphone and on-board computer. In general, such a patrol can check the Data Center area for compliance with more than 70 parameters and do this practically on the go.

Anymal provides a visual remote inspection, detects overheating or, for example, warns of excessive vibration of equipment. The presence of lidar and LED lighting allows you to work even during night shifts. However, Anybotics emphasizes that humans are still needed to take care of the data center and robots play a supporting role, providing staff with the necessary data in a timely manner.

Anymal robot patrolling the Digital Realty Data Center area / Photo: ANYbotics

Digital Realty, which operates three data centers in Zurich, is not the only operator experimenting with assistants in its data centers. And quadrupedal robots aren’t the only solution. For example, Fujitsu and NTT Data are developing robots on a motorized platform for unmanned data centers that require virtually no human intervention to maintain operations, and Alibaba uses autonomous manipulators in data centers that resemble robots on assembly lines.

A few words about ANYbotics and Anymal

Founded in 2016, Anybotics is a Swiss robot developer and manufacturer. The Anymal model is very similar to Boston Dynamics’ Spot work, but is a standalone development. Anymal, a four-legged robot dog with a height of 70 centimeters and a length of 80 centimeters, is fully automated in a protected enclosure and can run autonomously for up to 90 minutes. It takes three hours to fully charge, but there is an option for fast charging. The robot independently returns to the docking station to replenish its energy reserves.