ROBOPLANET

What ROBOPLANET does

ROBOPLANET (legal entity: Brussieux Jean-Marie SARL) is a French industrial robotics company founded in 2007 and headquartered in Nantes, with additional engineering operations in Brest. The company designs and manufactures mobile robotic instruments for non-destructive testing (NDT) and corrosion mapping of industrial assets, including storage tanks, ship hulls, pipelines, and aeronautical structures. Its technology stack combines magnetic adhesion systems, ultrasonic testing (UT), alternating current field measurement (ACFM), visual inspection, and phased-array sensing, enabling continuous B-scan measurement (approximately 1 measurement per centimeter) instead of the spot-check approach used in traditional manual NDT.

The product portfolio centers on the Altiscan magnetic crawler for vertical-surface thickness measurement on tanks and ship hulls, the UT_Pole telescopic pole system for ground-level UT inspection up to 12 meters, the UT_Rover tethered remote-controlled robot for floating and fixed roof inspection in ATEX and IP67 environments, the VT_Pole visual inspection pole, and the TAURUS drone (jointly developed with Pilgrim Technology) for corrosion-under-insulation detection. Six registered patents underpin the platform, and the legacy Hermine multi-element scanner was qualified by Bureau Veritas as a "major technological breakthrough." The company has also developed prototype phased-array equipment for automated aircraft wing structural inspection.

ROBOPLANET operates a hybrid revenue model combining sales of robotic inspection hardware (Altiscan, UT_Rover, UT_Pole, VT_Pole) with on-site professional services delivered by in-house roboticists and NDT specialists, and a custom engineering bureau that develops bespoke robotic solutions across TRL 1–9. Customers are large industrial operators and certification bodies — TotalEnergies, EDF, BASF, Cargill, Bureau Veritas, MISTRAS, TUV, SGS, Apave, Heidelberg, Chantiers de l'Atlantique, YPF, plus French defense entities (Ministère des Armées, Marine Nationale, Agence de l'Innovation de Défense). Pricing is exclusively quote-based with 24-hour response commitments, and go-to-market is direct enterprise field sales with on-site technical demonstrations rather than reseller or self-serve channels.

Name

ROBOPLANET

Legal name

Brussieux Jean‑Marie SARL

Website

https://roboplanet.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

ROBOPLANET is a French industrial robotics firm that designs mobile robotic non-destructive testing systems for corrosion inspection of tanks, ship hulls, pipelines, and aeronautical structures, serving enterprise clients in oil and gas, defense, water utilities, and industrial certification.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Robotic Industrial Inspection Systems

NAICS

Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (334511), Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing (334519)

SIC

Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823), Special Industry Machinery, Nec (3559)

akta.pro primary industry

Robot Hardware, Actuators & Components (sensors, grippers, motors) (HDAAAIAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

NDT/Inspection & Testing Services (Aviation) (IMABALAJ)

Keywords

• Non-destructive testing robots
• Robotic inspection systems
• Corrosion mapping robots
• Ultrasonic thickness measurement
• Industrial NDT equipment

Headquarters

HQ city

Nantes

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Inspection Robot Sales: Sale of robotic inspection systems including Altiscan, UT_Rover, UT_Pole, VT_Pole. Products are designed in France, robust, modular, and field-ready. Direct sales to industrial clients.
2. On-Site Inspection Services: Turnkey inspection services deploying roboticists and NDT specialists. Services include storage tank inspections, DT94/PM2I/API 653 compliance inspections, ACFM weld testing, geometric control.
3. Custom Project Engineering: Integrated engineering office for custom robot development. From feasibility study to prototype, industrialization to operational deployment. Covers full TRL 1-9 development lifecycle.
4. Custom Robot Development: Design and manufacture of bespoke robotic solutions for specific industrial challenges. Includes co-development with clients, intellectual property agreements, and technology transfer.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ROBOPLANET designs, manufactures and sells mobile robotic instruments for industrial Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), including magnetic-crawler ultrasonic robots, tethered roof-inspection robots, telescopic UT poles, and visual-inspection poles. The company's flagship products — Altiscan, UT_Rover, UT_Pole and VT_Pole — are used by industrial operators to perform thickness measurement, corrosion mapping and weld inspection on storage tanks, ship hulls, insulated piping and industrial structures without scaffolding, rope access or confined-space entry. ROBOPLANET also delivers on-site turnkey inspection services and custom robotic engineering through its integrated engineering office.

Product overview

ROBOPLANET offers a portfolio of robotic inspection solutions for non-destructive testing (NDT) in industrial environments. The product lineup centers on three core inspection robots: Altiscan (magnetic crawler for ultrasonic thickness measurement on tank shells and ship hulls), UT_Pole (telescopic pole for ground-level UT measurement), and UT_Rover (remote-controlled robot for tank roof inspection). Complementary products include VT_Pole for visual inspection and legacy Hermine scanner. These products share a common purpose of eliminating work-at-height, confined space entry, and underwater work while delivering continuous measurement data (B-scan) versus traditional spot measurements. The company also develops custom robotic solutions through its integrated engineering office and provides on-site inspection services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Altiscan Magnetic mobile robot for continuous ultrasonic thickness measurement (B-scan) on storage tank shells and ship hulls; reinforced magnetic adhesion enables operation on vertical, corroded surfaces with up to 250,000 measurement points per inspection.
• UT_Pole Telescopic pole with wheeled magnetic carrier for ultrasonic thickness measurement up to 12 m height from ground level; delivers 1 measurement per centimetre with digitized signal analysis and B-scan reporting, removing the need for scaffolding.
• VT_Pole 12 m telescopic pole for remote visual inspection of tank roofs, tall structures, confined spaces and tank interiors; integrates a GoPro HD camera with real-time WiFi tablet feed, LED lighting, 2.5 h battery life, and 4K/1080p video and photo capture onto microSD up to 256 GB.
• UT_Rover Remote-controlled (tethered or 4G teleoperated) inspection robot for floating and fixed tank roofs; 100 m UT range, 1 km visual range, IP67 weather resistance, ATEX-compatible, with A-scan/B-scan UT measurement, HD/Ultra HD cameras, brushing and gas-detection modules; 14 kg, deployable by a single operator.
• TAURUS drone Drone-based wall-thickness measurement system co-developed with Pilgrim Technology for remote inspection without scaffold or rope access, targeting corrosion-under-insulation detection on gas transmission and industrial insulated assets.
• On-Site Inspection Services Turnkey inspection services deploying ROBOPLANET roboticists and NDT specialists to customer industrial sites; covers storage-tank inspections, DT94/PM2I/API 653 compliance inspections, ACFM weld testing and geometric control in France and internationally.
• Custom Robotics Engineering & Bespoke Robot Development Integrated engineering office (bureau d'études) providing custom robot development from feasibility study through prototype, industrialization and operational deployment, covering the full TRL 1-9 development lifecycle with co-development, intellectual property agreements and technology transfer.

Quantifiable outcome

• 90% of risks eliminated for operators
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• TotalEnergiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Multi-year technical collaboration agreement (Q4 2020) for development and qualification of robotic NDT inspection vectors. PANDA project enables robotic metrology controls at height with predictive maintenance capabilities. TotalEnergies provides PME Pool support, export assistance, and regional financing since 2018. ROBOPLANET recognized with RC IND SUCCESS trophy for innovation.
• Institut de SoudurecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative development partner in ALTISCAN robot project alongside TotalEnergies and MISTRAS. Institut de Soudure contributes NDT expertise for deployment on TotalEnergies sites since 2012.
• MISTRAS GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative development partner in ALTISCAN deployment on TotalEnergies sites. Contributes inspection expertise alongside ROBOPLANET and Institut de Soudure since 2012.
• Pilgrim TechnologyflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint development partner for TAURUS drone for remote UT thickness measurement. Won GRTgaz call for projects on corrosion-under-insulation detection. Pilgrim contributes drone platform expertise.
• GRTgazflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerGas transmission operator that selected ROBOPLANET for corrosion-under-insulation detection challenge. Two-phase project: workshop sample qualification and real-condition trials at compression station. Final deliverable December 2019: state-of-the-art report on CUI detection techniques.
• Ministère des Armées françaisescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrench Ministry of Defence public contracts since 2012 for ruggedized robotics development. October 2017 new public market for marine application prototype. 18-month project with 3 engineers plus subcontractors. Technology transfer benefits industrial sector.
• Agence de l'Innovation de DéfenseflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrench Defence Innovation Agency selected ROBOPLANET for semi-autonomous robot development with ultrasonic sensors for aircraft MCO. Automated defect detection and inspection report generation. Partnership addresses military aviation maintenance needs.
• EAUX de PARISflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerParis water utility awarded innovation prize to ROBOPLANET for thickness evaluation of drinking water pipelines. Solution: mobile carrier navigating pipe interiors for precise thickness measurement. Prototype qualified June 2020.
• Pôle EMC2minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCompetitiveness cluster membership for production technologies in aerospace, naval, energy, and industrial equipment sectors. Aims to strengthen partnerships with regional Pays de la Loire innovators and optimize production methods.
• Impulse PartnersminorGTM or Marketing PartnerBusiness incubator where Jean-Marie Brussieux presented company strategy to jury of industrial partners and investors (September event). Opens opportunities for new technical collaborations.
• COFRENDminorGTM or Marketing PartnerConfédération Française des Essais Non-Destructifs technical day participation. Presented Hermine and Altiscan technologies for naval sector NDT challenges at La Rochelle event.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Eddyfi Technologies: Canadian NDT inspection equipment manufacturer offering UT, phased array, ACFM and robotic crawler solutions for oil & gas, power and aerospace inspection. Closest direct competitor to ROBOPLANET across the same core NDT modalities and tank/structural inspection use cases.
• MISTRAS Group: U.S.-based NDT services and condition monitoring provider. Already a co-development partner on ROBOPLANET's ALTISCAN at TotalEnergies sites, MISTRAS competes and collaborates on robotic ACFM/UT inspection in storage tanks and industrial assets.
• Invert Robotics: Dutch specialist in suction-cup and magnetic climbing robots for non-destructive inspection of tanks, vessels and aerospace components. Directly comparable robotic NDT inspection offering with overlapping aerospace and industrial asset use cases.
• Sonatest: UK-based manufacturer of ultrasonic flaw detectors, thickness gauges and automated NDT scanners. Comparable as an NDT instrumentation maker serving the same industrial inspection customers ROBOPLANET targets.

Broad incumbents

• Olympus Industrial: Global incumbent in industrial NDT instrumentation (UT, phased array, eddy current, videoscopes). Offers overlapping inspection capabilities as part of a much broader portfolio and competes with ROBOPLANET on phased array and crawler solutions for aerospace and petrochemical inspection.
• Waygate Technologies (Baker Hughes): Industrial inspection technology brand (formerly GE Inspection, now part of Baker Hughes) covering ultrasonic, eddy current, radiographic and robotic inspection. A broader incumbent whose portfolio overlaps ROBOPLANET's UT/ACFM inspection value proposition.
• Cybernetix (TechnipFMC / John Wood Group): Marseille-headquartered robotic systems integrator for hostile environments (nuclear, oil & gas, subsea). Highly comparable French robotic engineering peer serving overlapping industrial inspection use cases.

Emerging players

• ANYbotics: Swiss developer of autonomous quadruped robots for industrial plant inspection. Competes for autonomous inspection-of-industrial-assets budget, though focused on leg-based mobility rather than magnetic/UT inspection of tanks.
• Energy Robotics: German provider of autonomous mobile robots and software for industrial inspection at energy and process plants. Overlaps ROBOPLANET on robotic inspection of oil & gas and chemical assets, albeit via a fleet-software-led model rather than specialist NDT hardware.
• ExRobotics: Dutch developer of explosion-proof (ATEX) autonomous inspection robots for hazardous oil & gas and petrochemical environments. Comparable niche focus on robotic inspection in explosive environments where ATEX-rated operation is required, similar to UT_Rover.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@RoboplanetSARL
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/roboplanet
• Xx.com/_Roboplanet

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ROBOPLANET