Anybotics launches Shift platform for robot inspections

ANYbotics has launched Shift, an operations platform for managing fleets of autonomous industrial inspection robots. It is aimed at processing industries including energy, metals, mining and chemicals.

The Zurich-based robotics company said the platform combines plant models, robot fleet management, inspection data and maintenance systems in a single workflow. It is designed to help maintenance and reliability teams schedule robot missions, review inspection results and turn anomalies into work orders within existing operational software.

Shift is already deployed across more than 200 robot installations and supports hundreds of thousands of inspections each month, according to ANYbotics. The company said Shift will replace its existing Data Navigator platform for current customers, with data, configurations and integrations carried over automatically.

The launch comes as industrial groups seek to reduce equipment failures and avoid outages. ANYbotics cited an estimate that preventable downtime costs the world's 500 largest companies USD $1.4 trillion a year, while a single hour of outage averages USD $250,000.

Shift is built around four software modules. Fleet handles scheduling, monitoring and control of multiple robots from a single interface, including battery status, position tracking and live video. Insight analyses thermal, acoustic, visual and gas readings alongside operating conditions such as motor speed, load and ambient temperature to identify anomalies.

Connect links those findings to external systems, including distributed control systems, enterprise resource planning tools, maintenance software and asset performance management platforms. Maps provides a digital model of a plant and places inspection targets within an existing asset hierarchy so each reading is linked to the correct equipment.

ANYbotics said the platform is designed to support a shift from single-robot use to larger fleets, where deployment speed, staff adoption and integration with maintenance processes become more important. Tasks that previously took specialist teams weeks can now be completed by local technicians in days, the company said.

"Robotic inspection delivers the most value when field data flows directly into maintenance action," said Péter Fankhauser, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at ANYbotics. "Shift makes that seamless. It unifies plant mapping, robot fleet coordination, inspection AI analytics and systems integrations into one platform. At its core, Shift AI powers the intelligence that transforms field findings into work orders, saving millions by avoiding unplanned downtime."

Operations teams can use the platform to run fleets from one place, while reliability teams receive alerts when anomalies are detected, according to ANYbotics. Integration teams can also use an application programming interface to feed inspection data into existing enterprise systems and trigger new missions from those systems in return.

Customer use

ANYbotics pointed to early customer deployments as examples of how the platform is used in practice. 

At Vigier Cement, Shift carried out more than 33,000 autonomous inspections over 16 months, according to ANYbotics. The company said the platform organised each reading within the plant's asset hierarchy, allowing maintenance teams to compare condition trends over time and decide which repairs to prioritise.

The software also connects with major industrial technology vendors. ANYbotics named Yokogawa in distributed control systems; SAP and IBM Maximo in maintenance and planning software; GE Vernova APM in asset performance management; and Cognite and Oracle in plant contextualisation and digital twin layers.

Jacob Euler-Rolle, Head of Product Management, Workflow Integration at ANYbotics, described the system as a shared intelligence layer linking those functions.

"Shift AI connects all four modules and is the shared intelligence they all work on. A reading doesn't just get stored, it arrives knowing which asset it belongs to, where that asset sits, what it looked like last time, and which work order it should become. The plant model from Maps, the inspection task from Fleet, the interpretation from Insight, and the action from Connect are one continuous workflow. And it runs both ways: a work order or a process alarm can send the fleet straight back to the asset. Every cycle through that workflow feeds Shift AI, which makes the next one smarter," said Euler-Rolle.

Partners and customers said the system gives them a standard way to feed robot inspection data into broader maintenance and operations processes across multiple sites.

"ANYbotics Shift's API gives our APM platform consistent, valuable equipment-level inspection data from across the plant floor. Combining field insights with our analytics creates a more complete picture of asset health, helping teams identify, validate and address issues more effectively. When our models flag a potential issue, we can use the same API to send robots to verify it and capture additional context. The integration has been seamless, making it easy to incorporate field insights into existing workflows and accelerate value for our customers," said Neha Joshi, Product Leader, GE Vernova APM.

"We run metals plants in several countries, and every site used to inspect in its own way. Shift gives us one platform and one view of asset condition across steel, aluminium and copper. We proved it on a single line, and because the data is structured the same way everywhere, we extend it plant by plant without starting over," said Vasilis Zogogiannis, Senior Director of Operational Excellence at Steelmet.

Shift runs as a managed cloud platform with regional hosting. Customers with specific information technology, operational technology or regulatory requirements can also deploy it in their own cloud environments or on-premise. ANYbotics said customer inspection data remains owned by the customer and is handled in compliance with data protection rules, including GDPR.

"We build, operate and service energy-from-waste plants, and our digital services only work when the field data is structured and reliable. Shift runs the inspection rounds for us and brings every reading together in one place, so it has become part of how we deliver digital services to our own customers," said Julie Clavier, Director of Digital Service Solutions at Kanadevia Inova.