CSG's Inspection Robots Leap into the Fight Against COVID-19

Guangzhou - Since the resumption of work in February, the life, production, and operation of residents across Guangdong province – so severely disrupted during the  COVID-19 global pandemic - have been gradually coming back to life.
To support the resumption of work, the “Robot Alliances” invented by Guangdong Power Grid Company of CSG, have begun to pop-up within residential communities and power grid substations.
During the severe outbreak of COIVD-19, more than 815 robots from the “Robot Alliances” were activated and put in use … and have discovered and taken prompt action to eight equipment abnormalities.
One of the newly launched robots stands 0.7 meters high and weighs 40 kilograms. When fully deployed, it occupies less than 0.3 square meters. Rotating on four wheels, it can achieve autonomous navigation and bypass obstacles. In communities, when recognizing passers-by who have masks covering their mouths but with noses uncovered, the robot will immediately issue a voice warning.
As enterprises begin the process to restart production, the electricity load on China Southern Power Grid has gradually grown. The robots are great additions to their “human” masters, carrying out unmanned and zero-touch inspection and maintenance work in substations and serving as new scientific tools in tackling the pandemic.
The 500 kW Wenshan Substation in Zhongshan City plays an important role in the area’s northern major power grids as well as in the consumption and transmission of centralized power in the northeast part of the city.
At the Wenshan Substation, in addition to “human” power grid inspectors, intelligent inspection robots are on patrol throughout the high-voltage area to detect whether the switches and electricity meters are operating within nominal range.
Trackless outdoor equipment allows the robots to complete inspection on their own and remotely transmit data to a mainframe computer regardless of time and weather.
This “human-machine” duo not only reduces the CSG staff's daily pressure on operation and maintenance but also avoided time-sensitive cross-infection during the pandemic, allowing the inspection to be more flexible and efficient.