Wall-climbing robots to patrol US warships as Navy bets big on AI inspections

Gecko Robotics has landed a $71 million contract to deploy wall-climbing robots and artificial intelligence across US Navy ships in the Pacific Fleet, the Pittsburgh-based company said, in what executives described as a first-of-its-kind maintenance contract awarded to a robotics firm.

Gecko's robots climb hulls, crawl through ballast tanks and fly through confined spaces, collecting structural and material data that feeds the company's AI-powered software platform, called Cantilever.

The system can identify repairs up to 50 times faster and more accurately than manual inspections, according to the privately-held company. In one documented case, a single robotic evaluation of a flight deck eliminated more than three months of potential maintenance delays, the company said.

The deal represents a significant scaling of robotic technology.

Gecko currently operates a fleet of roughly 250 robots across both commercial and government customers, and plans to build 50 to 60 more this year.

The five-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, awarded through the US Navy and General Services Administration, will see Gecko begin work on 18 ships across the Pacific Fleet, with an initial award worth up to $54 million. Destroyers, amphibious warships and littoral combat ships are among the vessels included in the program.

According to Gecko, In previous years, the company has worked across the U. Navy’s surface fleet, with efforts spanning destroyers, amphibious ships and aircraft carriers, and both Virginia and Columbia-class nuclear submarine programs.

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