ANYbotics adds automated door access to ANYmal inspection robots
Closed doors have long blocked mobile inspection robots in processing industries such as energy, metals, mining, and chemicals. ANYbotics today announced it has partnered with dormakaba and LEGIC Identsystems to add automated door-access capabilities to its ANYmal robot fleet.
Jacob Euler-Rolle, product manager for workflow integration at ANYbotics, said inspection only delivers value if the robot can reach the asset, and a closed door was the one obstacle preventing coverage of the most critical plant areas. He said solving it with LEGIC and dormakaba means ANYmal can now inspect where it matters most without rebuilding any infrastructure.
Péter Fankhauser, co-founder and CEO of ANYbotics, said customers do not buy robots; they buy a solution to operational challenges such as less unplanned downtime and fewer people in hazardous areas. He said with dormakaba and LEGIC, ANYmal can move through doors like an authorized colleague under the same rules and the same audit trail. The access-controlled door pilot proved this works in a live operating environment, and the function will now be available as an add-on across the entire ANYmal fleet.
ANYbotics, spun out of ETH Zurich in 2016, designs ANYmal quadrupeds for routine inspections, remote operations, and predictive maintenance of critical assets. The Zurich-based company employs about 200 staff and has raised more than $150 million to date.
ANYbotics said its robots can now navigate through both unlocked and locked doors across complex, multi-zone environments without structural modifications or manual intervention.
When ANYmal approaches an unlocked door on its planned route, a radar sensor detects its presence and triggers a retrofitted dormakaba ED 100 or ED 250 mounted on the door. The door opens automatically, ANYmal passes through, and the door closes behind it. This system works on existing doors and complies with indoor, outdoor, and fire-rated specifications, according to ANYbotics. Dormakaba's localized teams handle surveying, hardware quoting, and installation.
Euler-Rolle told The Robot Report that dormakaba's ED 100 and ED 250 are swing door operators largely independent of door type. They can automate almost any swing door within specification and are retrofitted onto the customer's existing door rather than requiring a specific brand or a new door. ANYbotics offers a tele-assist feature to handle routine exceptions, allowing a remote operator to resolve the issue, adapt the mission, or direct the robot back to its dock, he added.
For doors in secure or restricted areas, presence detection alone is not enough. To address locked doors, the partners integrated their core technologies: ANYbotics provides the autonomous mobile robot, LEGIC Identsystems supplies secure digital credential technology, and dormakaba provides access management and door automation systems.
Mehdi Elhaoussine, general manager at LEGIC, said the project takes a major step into physical AI, extending LEGIC's secure access credential technologies from people and objects to machines. The new authentication system lets plant operators maintain control over who or what enters specific areas. They can manage ANYmal's movement with existing security systems and limit access to defined zones, operating windows, or inspection tasks.
Rather than bypassing plant security or leaving controlled doors permanently open, ANYmal carries a LEGIC security payload that gives it a trusted digital identity. As the robot approaches a protected doorway, it requests access electronically from dormakaba's exos system. The system determines whether to grant access based on predefined permissions, unlocking the door automatically for ANYmal.
Asked about the risk of people following the robot into unauthorized areas, Euler-Rolle said tailgating is an inherent risk of access-control doors, and the robot inherits the facility's existing security protocols rather than replacing them. The robot authenticates and passes through doors like a badged employee, he said. It does not change the door's own anti-tailgating measures or weaken physical security such as mantraps, interlocks, cameras, or guard protocols. Someone tailgating a robot creates the same security event as someone tailgating a human, triggering standard countermeasures. Because the robot logs every credential scan and transit with a precise timestamp, it creates a clear audit trail that provides better visibility than a manually propped-open door. LEGIC's credential and trust technology is licensed and integrated across many access-management systems, giving ANYbotics compatibility with existing plants, noted Euler-Rolle. The local security team can handle exceptions without third parties.
GE Vernova tested the joint solution in a live operating environment at its Whitegate power plant in County Cork, Ireland. Over several weeks of continuous testing, ANYmal operated reliably, repeatedly requesting access, passing through controlled doors, and completing inspection routes without manual intervention, the companies said.
Brian Carroll, a maintenance engineer at GE Vernova Whitegate, said the door-passage solution allows ANYmal to move seamlessly between plant zones without compromising safety or security rules. By letting the door open automatically for the robot, the site can automate routine inspection runs across the entire facility while keeping fire and security barriers intact.
The new access-control add-on will be available to current ANYbotics deployments and future ANYmal hardware platforms later this year. ANYbotics, dormakaba, and LEGIC Identsystems are also exploring further applications, including automated access to elevators, gates, and turnstiles in large facilities.
David Fuller, chief innovation officer at dormakaba, said the joint pilot illustrates how access solutions are evolving beyond traditional applications for human users. By securely authenticating and authorizing autonomous machines, access management can become an important enabler for the next generation of industrial automation.
The market for AMRs navigating restricted areas is linked to the inspection robotics sector, which Euler-Rolle said is growing by more than 20% annually. Many mobile robots will eventually face closed doors in industrial sites, so the potential is even greater, he said. Euler-Rolle noted that fire doors compartmentalize almost every process facility to isolate hazards, placing 30% to 50% of critical equipment behind restricted barriers. Because autonomous value is dictated by site coverage, overcoming these physical barriers directly unlocks the full value of robotic inspection. A robot capable of reaching 100% of a plant delivers exponentially higher utility than one restricted to half the facility.