NDE and inspection

OC Robotics wins snake arm contract

22 May 2009



Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has awarded a contract to OC Robotics to design and build a snake-arm robot mounted on a mobile vehicle that will be used to inspect complex pipework and structures within Candu reactors.


The snake-arm will be 2m in length and will have a rectangular cross-section measuring 25mm in width and 50mm in height. In the first instance the snake- arm will be equipped with tip cameras for pipe inspection.

Snake-arm robots are flexible robotic arms which have many joints so they can follow their nose into confined spaces. OC Robotics is the only commercial manufacturer of snake-arm robots in the world.

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The survey comprised a live feed in CPS as the crawler travelled the length of each pipe.

This is a breakthrough contract for OC Robotics as this is the first time it have been the prime contractor to a nuclear utilities company. OC Robotics won the contract by demonstrating previous nuclear experience and the ability to meet quality requirements including ISO 9001.

OC Robotics completed its first commercial nuclear contract in 2004. Working with Uddcomb AB, OC Robotics supplied two types of robot (five in total) to Ringhals AB in Sweden to complete an urgent pipe replacement in an extremely awkward area below one of their reactors. This contract is seen as a significant achievement considering the company currently employs only 17 people and was bidding against some of the largest companies in the world. OC Robotics was founded in 1997 and raised venture capital in 2001.


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The survey
The survey comprised a live feed in CPS as the crawler travelled the length of each pipe.



OC Robotics snake arm OC Robotics snake arm


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