Sustainability has become an imperative for businesses across all industries. Consumers, investors, and employees now expect companies to prioritize environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance.
However, advancing operational efficiency through innovative technology remains critical, too. As the leading provider of in-service tank inspection using robotics, Square Robot embraces this dual responsibility.
“Our ethos is to minimize our footprint while increasing the efficiency of our customers’ operations,” says David Lamont, CEO of Square Robot. “We continually push the envelope to limit our impact and work with customers to support their sustainability goals.”
DAVID LAMONT CEO OF SQUARE ROBOT
REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS
The carbon emissions reduction enabled by Square Roboť’s robotic tank inspection services is substantial. A typical 100-foot diesel tank emits around five tons of carbon equivalent when taken out of service for inspection. More volatile liquids like gasoline release 15-20 tons. With over 500,000 tanks worldwide, the savings quickly add up. Preventing product loss also benefits the environment and communities.
But sustainability at Square Robot goes beyond services. “We’re tracking the mileage of our people and continually assessing the impact of our operations to reduce emissions,” Lamont explains. “As the company expands globally, the focus is on enabling local service delivery rather than moving people between sites. Strategic local partnerships build competence and confidence worldwide while cutting travel requirements.”
Minimizing CO₂eq and Reducing Safety Risks
Square Robot’s solutions minimize the carbon footprint of tank inspections, but also reduce safety risks, inspection time and costs while simultaneously increasing operational efficiency. “Many companies recognize the need to reduce the practice of people working in confined and potentially hazardous spaces.” Lamont continues: “To take people out of these environments, the use of robots enables that to happen.”
Square Robot’s dedication to people doesn’t stop there. From speaking at university robotics clubs to sponsoring STEM education, Square Robot promotes the development of young talent.
“It’s an area we want to do more in” says Lamont.
Chief Engineer and Roboticist Amy Underwood regularly works with school groups and robotic communities in the United States and internationally. Her most recent involvement was with a school’s robotics club in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she was invited to speak.
DATA-DRIVEN NEXT-GENERATION TANK INSPECTION
The central role of storage tanks across oil and gas, petrochemical, refining, and other industries means inspections are essential for safety and continuity, and to avoid the need for costly unplanned plant shutdowns for maintenance.”
Using risk-free robotic inspection to better understand the state of your tank while it remains in service has clear benefits for operational expenditure and revenue generation,” Lamont remarks. “Addressing tank compliance and conditions is simplified by our efficient in-service inspection solution. Instead of the inspection process lasting weeks, or even months, and having to take the tank out of service, we provide a quick and straight forward resolution within a few days.
All the while, the tank remains online. This allows businesses to concentrate on their core operations, turning a significant problem into a manageable, routine task.”
Conventional (manual) inspection methods based on human assessment and limited datasets have significant drawbacks. In contrast, robotic tank inspections can identify and harvest vast amounts of data, feeding models and optimizing maintenance plans based on facts rather than opinion or timebased best practices. Replacing opinion-based assessments with data certainty gives asset owners a clearer and more accurate picture of their asset’s integrity. That can avoid unnecessary routine maintenance and deliver millions of dollars in cost savings.”
Seven out of eight tanks that are taken out of service for routine maintenance don’t need any material work done to them. They’re just taken out of service to inspect them. And so, seven out of eight times, the process is unnecessary,” Lamont explains. Using the roboť’s data, Square Robot can assess conditions while it remains fully in operation and intervene only if required, moving away from time-based practices that may lead to unnecessary tank shutdowns or risk-based over-conservatism established solely on best practices rather than actual need.
By keeping tanks in service, revenue and production stay online while expensive and emission-releasing clean outs are avoided. Lamont points to one project where four days of robotic inspection replaced two months of manual efforts and saved millions of dollars inequivalent costs.
“We expedited an inspection for a railway’s locomotive refueling tank in Oklahoma, reducing the inspection time from two months to four days. This saved significant costs and minimized environmental impact by avoiding the need for fuel transport from a distant refinery. The tank remained in service and was still being used to fill locomotives.”
Square Robot also worked alongside Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in a series of inspections to present at the EPRI’s Incubatenergy® Labs Demo Day in Vancouver.Inspecting three fuel oil tanks, each holding about 1 million gallons of fuel, the Square Robot team completed the inspections in less than four days, yielding substantial benefits for TVA. These included nearly 800 confined space entry hours saved, a reduction of about six tons of CO2 emissions, avoidance of weeks of downtime, and elimination of thousands of project management hours.
The fourth inspection with TVA focused on a flowing firewater tank used for daily operations, presenting unique challenges like sediment buildup, and navigating through flows of up to 2500 gallons per minute. Square Robot’s submersible technology surpassed limitations, showcasing the robust capabilities of their submersible technology in terms of data quality, collection, and navigation.
By keeping tanks in service, revenue and production stay online while expensive and emission-releasing clean outs are avoided. Lamont points to one project where four days of robotic inspection replaced two months of manual efforts and saved millions of dollars inequivalent costs.
The high-definition cameras, sensors, and ultrasonic imaging used by Square Robot outpace manual capabilities. “It’s the combination of different sensor sets and information that gives customers a much clearer, holistic view” Lamont explains. This comprehension will only advance through investments in artificial intelligence and machine learning to extract deeper insights.
Ultimately, Lamont sees robotics shifting tank inspection from time intervalbased to optimized, data-driven asset management. “Robots can keep tanks running pristinely with maintenance as needed rather than on a schedule,” he says. One future concept is a”resident robot” assigned to each location, selfcharging while continually cleaning andmonitoring tanks.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Square Roboť’s tank inspection robotics offer measurable and tangible efficiency, safety, sustainability, and intelligence advances over legacy methods. The company’s latest generation robot SR-3, designed to be used with the Side Launcher system, was launched in September 2023 and allows inspection of a much broader range of products. “The robot is the vehicle for delivering safe, risk-free inspections,” says Lamont. “But it’s the data that they bring us that delivers the real asset integrity insights.
With the ability to collect and harvest vast data sets on asset integrity, unlocking additional value for customers through Al and machine learning will be the next frontier. “Al will help us identify and understand an issue and offer answers to problems that don’t exist yet for our customers. For example, it could help us better understand corrosion mechanisms and provide a preventative response before damage occurs,” he suggests.
As innovations evolve, Lamont believes datadriven robotic tank inspections will rapidly become the norm rather than the exception for storage tanks. “Robotic tank inspections are on the cusp of becoming the industry standard. It’s very hard morally for asset owners to justify allowing people to work in potentially hazardous confined spaces or for operations that emit carbon unnecessarily,” he says.
Square Robot serves as a model for how industrial sectors can increase safety, reduce emissions, and boost operational efficiency and performance through intelligent adoption of emerging technologies. With eyes set on purpose and possibility, the company partners with customers toward a more sustainable and productive future built on data-driven insight. There is still work ahead, but the path forward is bright.