Gecko Robotics deploys wall-climbing robots across ADNOC sites now

Gecko Robotics is using its wall-climbing inspection robots across ADNOC sites in the United Arab Emirates. The Pittsburgh-based company has expanded its partnership with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to deploy robotic inspection technology, including the new Raptor robot, across energy facilities. The work supports predictive maintenance, asset integrity checks and data collection without requiring facilities to be taken offline. Gecko Robotics unveiled the Raptor robot at ADIPEC 2026 in Abu Dhabi. The company stated that Raptor’s first deployment would be with ADNOC Group. According to Gecko, the robot is three to five times faster than its predecessor, can collect millions of data points per asset and provides up to 20 times faster assessments than other automated inspection tools. Company statements have also claimed speeds up to 50 times faster than competitors’ robots. The robot uses sensors and sound waves to identify structural faults and build digital maps of assets while they remain in operation. The current expansion builds on earlier agreements. In April 2024, Gecko Robotics and Al Masaood Energy signed a multi-year contract with ADNOC Gas with an estimated ceiling of approximately $30 million (AED 110 million). The contract covered deployment of wall-climbing robots and the Cantilever AI-powered data platform across ADNOC Gas sites for predictive maintenance. Pilot studies indicated 99.6 percent greater asset coverage and more than 93 percent higher efficiency compared with manual processes, along with a projected 33 percent reduction in lost-time injury rates due to reduced scaffolding use. In November 2025, ADNOC and Gecko Robotics signed three further agreements. These included a multi-year technology deployment with AIQ (ADNOC’s joint venture with Presight) to place the Cantilever operating system across ADNOC Gas assets, a collaboration with the ADNOC Technical Academy on training programmes for UAE nationals in robotics and AI, and a framework to explore wider deployment of robotics and AI analytics plus potential manufacturing of robotic systems in the UAE. ADNOC Gas has stated that its AI-powered robotic inspection programme is planned to expand across more than 1,500 additional assets by 2030 and is expected to generate more than $300 million in value over five years. At ADIPEC 2026, ADNOC Onshore and Gecko Robotics signed an agreement to advance robotic inspection across ADNOC Onshore field operations. The stated aims are improved employee safety and more accurate data for maintenance decisions. Gecko is also considering local manufacturing of the robots in the UAE as demand grows. The company has maintained a presence in the UAE under the Ministry of Economy’s NextGenFDI programme and has described the country as a leading environment for robotics applications in energy. Gecko Robotics chief executive and co-founder Jake Loosararian has linked the technology to faster recovery of energy assets after potential damage, noting that the robots can assess structural condition without extended downtime. The company also holds a separate $300 million agreement with the US Navy for robotics and AI in critical asset maintenance. For ADNOC and other regional operators, the practical change is that a US robotics firm is now running wall-climbing inspection units and AI analytics across multiple ADNOC business units, with quantified pilot results on coverage and efficiency and stated plans for wider asset coverage. The value of that change depends on whether the claimed speed and coverage gains are sustained at scale, whether the projected multi-hundred-million-dollar savings materialise, and whether local manufacturing and training programmes produce measurable Emirati workforce outcomes. Several of the agreements are multi-year frameworks or exploration arrangements rather than fixed-volume deployment contracts, and the precise number of robots currently in daily use across all ADNOC sites has not been publicly quantified beyond earlier statements of tens of units in the region. If the next update from Gecko Robotics or ADNOC reports the number of assets inspected by Raptor, actual downtime avoided, or progress on UAE manufacturing, the partnership has a measurable next step. If the following statement only restates the existence of the agreements and robot deployments, the change for the market remains the same as the current announcements. The figures missing from the current disclosure are independent third-party verification of the speed multiples, the exact value and duration of the new ADNOC Onshore agreement, and any binding capital or volume commitments beyond the previously stated ceilings and five-year savings estimates. The deployment is one step in ADNOC’s broader use of robotics and AI for asset integrity; the operational impact will be clear only from later deployment and performance data.