Spanish companies are developing various types of robots in order to fight against terrorism, carry out dangerous tasks and inspect damaged buildings.

Spanish companies have presented their robotic projects at Robotics Week, which took place in Madrid. Proytecsa displayed its aunav.Next product, which is designed to deactivate explosives. The company also manufactures another model called aunav.EOD, which was developed to fight terrorism. Its ability to carry weight and high precision give first responders a valuable tool to confront high risk situations: explosives, car bombs or other threats that might involve nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical dangers.

The Avatar robot was designed by the Spanish company Robomotion, in order to carry out tactical reconnaissance, surveillance or handling missions in high risk situations where dangerous objects are involved.

GMV has come up with an oil & gas inspection robot which will be the first that can autonomously carry out inspections at an industrial facility operated by French oil company Total. This caterpillar-tracked robot has a tilting head and can get over small obstacles such as rocks and sidewalks; it can even climb stairs. It’s so versatile that it was originally conceived as a search and rescue tool to find people in hostile situations, such as urban areas destroyed by earthquakes.

Spanish expertise is also apparent at other companies such as Robotnik, with its Summit XL model that stands out for its overall versatility and ability to carry heavy loads of up to 65kg. The Technical University of Madrid’s Center for Automation and Robotics (Centro de Automática y Robótica de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), is coming up with drones and robots that can track people.