Confined space inspection without sending people in
Every human entry needs a written permit and standby rescue — a trained team at the hatch, ready to respond if something goes wrong. For routine inspections, a robot can do that work instead: OLO rehearses the route in simulation, runs it autonomously in the real world, and builds an archive of comparative data.
Where robots fit in a confined space programme
Confined spaces are hostile to people but are well suited to robots: the environment is bounded, the route repeats, and the data requirement is consistent. With OLO, the mission is designed against a 3D model or scan of the space in simulation, so the first physical run verifies a route that already works virtually. Inside, the robot follows its waypoints while cameras, thermal imagers, and gas sensors record everything, and your team watches the live feeds from outside, in a browser.
Honesty about the boundary matters, because it's where trust in a safety programme lives. Robotic inspection removes the entries whose only purpose is to look and measure — and with them, the permits and standby rescue those entries require. It does not remove entries that exist to intervene — tighten, clean, sample, repair — and some geometry still defeats any current platform. The realistic goal is a shorter permit list, not an empty one; for most sites, inspection rounds are a large share of that list.
What changes for the safety case
Inspection entries come off the list
Tanks, vessels, and voids get looked at without a person inside — which means fewer permits and no standby rescue team to brief, equip, and hold at the hatch for those rounds.
Records an auditor can use
Every run is a complete, timestamped recording — the same route, the same capture points, run after run. That consistency is exactly what manual inspection records lack.
Rehearsed before anyone commits
The route is proven in simulation against a model of the space, so deployment risk is dealt with at a desk rather than at the tank hatch.
Eyes on it from outside
Live feeds stream to the platform during the run. The people who used to go in still see everything — from a browser, in fresh air.
Match the robot to the space
Confined spaces choose their robots. The questions that matter are physical ones, and they are worth answering before any software conversation:
Start at the hatch
The entry point sets the hard limit. Measure the narrowest aperture on the route, not the widest, and choose a platform that clears it with room to spare.
Read the floor
Flat tank floors and ducts suit compact rovers like the Leo Rover. Grating, steps, and uneven steel call for a quadruped. The mission workflow is identical either way.
Carry the right sensors
If the space calls for gas readings or thermal imagery, the robot carries the instrument. Confirm the payload can be mounted, powered, and logged before the first entry is planned.
Frequently asked questions
It replaces inspection entries — where someone goes in to look, photograph, or take readings. The robot enters instead and returns the same data, recorded and timestamped, without the permit process or standby rescue that a human entry requires. Entries that exist to physically intervene still need people. For most sites, inspection is a large share of total entries, which is why this is usually where robotic inspection starts.
In simulation. A 3D model of the space — from CAD or a prior scan — goes into OLO's cloud simulation, and the route is designed and rehearsed in the browser. The first physical run then verifies a mission that has already worked virtually, instead of exploring blind.
Whatever the robot's sensors capture: photographs and video, thermal imagery, and gas readings are the usual set. Everything lands in a complete, timestamped recording of the run, and your team can watch the live feeds in the browser while the robot is inside.
Yes, the same logic applies. Scheduled autonomous rounds remove out-of-hours lone working, and camera-equipped ground robots cover elevated or remote checks without putting anyone on a ladder. Confined space work is simply where the savings are easiest to count: price a single human entry — the permit paperwork, the standby rescue team held at the hatch for the duration, and the downtime while both are arranged — then multiply by your annual count.
For the developersof robotics.
Test in simulation. Visualise, teleoperate and script in the browser. No installation required.