Kawasaki Heavy Industries and BladeRobots have formed a strategic partnership to develop an automated solution for wind turbine blade leading-edge maintenance.
The companies said they will combine Kawasaki’s K-Racer unmanned helicopter with a blade maintenance robot to reduce man-hours, improve safety and deliver consistent quality.
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They added that the robot will be lifted onto the blade by K-Racer to carry out maintenance automatically.
A demonstration test at a wind farm in Denmark, supported by Vestas, confirmed the technical feasibility of lifting, placing and retrieving the robot under strong wind conditions.
Kawasaki and BladeRobots said they will accelerate efforts toward deployment and commercialisation.