The steelmaker said in a press release today it is the first in the steel industry to use robotics in safety management, which could ultimately reduce human exposure to hazardous materials by 80%.
 
The use of robotics supports the company’s vision of achieving the lowest accident frequency rate in the steel industry by 2025.
 
This month, the first ANYmal robot arrived to Outokumpu’s facility in Krefeld, Germany.
 
“Use of AI and robotics for safety management is one of the cornerstones of our safety strategy. ANYbotics’ robotics technology will help us to increase safety by reducing employee exposure to hazardous substances and environments, optimize production through preventive maintenance, and decrease environmental impacts,” said Thorsten Piniek, vice president, Health & Safety at Outokumpu.
 
“The robots will have many tasks; for example, reducing the time employees spend inspecting acid areas and reducing the risk of fires due to overheating of bearings and motors. In addition, the robots can shorten malfunction times since defects can be detected at an early stage through temperature and sound profile measurements before a failure occurs,” Piniek added.