Voliro T Contact Inspection Drone for Aerial NDT

Voliro AG is a Zurich-based maker of drone-enabled non-destructive testing (NDT) systems. Its work began in 2016 at the Autonomous Systems Lab of ETH Zurich and the company was incorporated in 2019 with support from Wyss Zurich. It replaces scaffolding, rope access and lifts for measurements at height on tanks, pipes, stacks, wind turbines and towers.

The Voliro T uses tiltable rotors to fly in any orientation and press sensors against a surface with up to 30 N of stable force. Interchangeable payloads include EMAT, ultrasonic and high-temperature UT thickness gauges, dry film thickness, pulsed eddy current for insulated assets, a lightning protection system tester and a flammable gas sensor. Lidar and optical flow allow assisted flight in GPS-denied spaces, and data is read live, uploaded to the cloud and exported as reports. Users include Holcim, Acuren, Mistras and Team Inc.

• Tiltable rotors: 360-degree mobility with up to 30 N contact force and several Nm of torque.
• UT and EMAT payloads: thickness range 2-150 mm with 0.06 mm resolution.
• High-temperature UT and PEC: measurements on hot surfaces up to 260 C and through insulation jackets.
• LPS tester and DFT gauge: lightning protection circuit tests and coating thickness checks.
• GPS-denied flight: lidar and optical flow with assisted autonomy, plus RTK GPS outdoors.
• Cloud reporting: live readings on the ground, cloud upload and customizable reports.

• Refineries and petrochemical plants measuring wall thickness of tanks, pipes and flare stacks during operation.
• Wind farm operators testing blade lightning protection systems without rope access.
• Cement plants and power utilities inspecting chimneys, silos and transmission towers.

• Removes the need for scaffolding, rope access or manlifts, keeping inspectors safely on the ground.
• High throughput: 4-5 storage tanks per day, a flare stack or chimney in about an hour, or 10-12 powerline towers per day.
• One airframe covers many NDT methods through swappable payloads.
• Lightning protection testing on wind turbines at a fraction of conventional cost, as shown in an 81-turbine project in Italy.

Asset owners in oil and gas, chemicals, cement and wind are under pressure to cut work-at-height risk and inspection downtime. Drones are moving from visual inspection to contact-based NDT, and NDT service providers are adding aerial robots to their fleets. Refineries, petrochemical plants and wind farms in Southeast Asia face the same safety and cost drivers.

Voliro AG, Zurich, Switzerland; incorporated in 2019 after research at ETH Zurich from 2016, supported by Wyss Zurich. Named by Fast Company among the 10 most innovative robotics companies of 2023. Early adopters include Shell, Petronas and Holcim; reports operations in 17 countries and about 100 inspections a month.