Birmingham-based HausBots and industrial inspection specialist Sutro Group have completed an ultrasonic testing campaign across the full shell of a 70m rotary kiln at Cemex’s Rugby cement plant, using a wall-climbing robotic platform to collect thickness readings without requiring personnel to access the structure directly.
The inspection covered the kiln shell, which measures 70m in length and 6m in diameter. The scope involved a large number of ultrasonic A-scan thickness readings to assess the integrity of the structure.
The kiln’s dimensions, together with its position on support rollers and the presence of drive gear and tyre assemblies along its length, created a significant access challenge. A conventional inspection would have required scaffolding or rope access across the kiln.
Instead, technicians used HausBots’ remote-controlled HB3 crawler to perform the ultrasonic inspection without personnel working at height.
Robotic platform enables ultrasonic thickness inspection
The HB3 crawler uses HausBots’ AeroGrip technology, which creates a pressure differential to hold the robot against the inspection surface rather than relying on magnetic attraction. This enables the platform to operate on both ferrous and non-ferrous materials.
During the Cemex inspection, Sutro Group technicians remotely operated the crawler and collected ultrasonic thickness spot readings across the kiln shell using a 1m by 1m grid.
The inspection generated the thickness data required by Cemex’s asset integrity team while avoiding the conventional preparatory access operation associated with inspecting the full length of the kiln.
Richard Denmead, Technical Director at Sutro Group, said the robot was deployed on the asset and collecting data within hours, while conventional access would have affected the timescale and cost of the inspection.
Reducing work-at-height requirements in NDT
The project highlights the potential role of robotic platforms in non-destructive testing applications where inspection locations are difficult or hazardous for personnel to access.
For the Cemex kiln, robotic inspection enabled ultrasonic thickness measurements to be collected across the structure without requiring inspectors to physically access the 70m-long asset.
The approach can reduce the access requirements associated with data-gathering activities during industrial inspection and maintenance programmes, although conventional scaffolding remains necessary where personnel must physically access an asset for repair, replacement or maintenance work.
HausBots and Sutro Group expand robotic NDT collaboration
HausBots and Sutro Group formalised a wider partnership in 2025 to combine robotic platforms with non-destructive testing services.
HausBots’ crawler systems are used across applications in energy, nuclear, water and infrastructure, while the Cemex project demonstrates their application to ultrasonic inspection of large industrial structures.
The completion of the kiln inspection demonstrates how remotely operated robotic systems can be integrated with ultrasonic testing to obtain asset integrity data while reducing the need for personnel to work at height.
Reference: https://scaffmag.com/technology/robot-inspection-removes-need-for-scaffold-access-on-70m-cemex-kiln/
