Which inspection robots and drones remember what changed since last time?
Persistent inspection memory for robots and drones that inspect substations, solar farms and wind sites: what changed since last time, and what is still open.
Researched Oct 5, 20266 solutions reviewedAI in the cloud: 4 of 6
Prismatic Agents makes Prismatic. Its row is first, highlighted and labelled, so you can compare every solution against it; the others follow alphabetically and are ranked by nobody. Every value carries an evidence label; "Where Prismatic leads" is our view as its maker.
The situation today
Utilities and energy sites use legged robots, docked drones and crawlers for routine inspection. The robots are excellent at collecting data; AI analysis is mostly cloud-hosted. Legged robots now run missions without internet, but the site's long memory of what changed, what was decided and what is still open sits in separate systems.
Machines and chips in use: Boston Dynamics Spot (Orbit software), ANYbotics ANYmal (onboard dual Intel i7), Skydio X10 drones (Qualcomm SoC) in docks, Gecko crawlers; analysis platforms from the makers and from Energy Robotics.
The chart
MeasuredPublishedReportedEstimateNot disclosedNot disclosed is never shown as “no”.
Solution
Type
Machine and chip
Where its AI thinks
Lasting memory
Offline
Price
PrismaticWe make it
Lasting local mind (never controls motion or safety)
Mac mini M5 Pro 64 GB as the site's control centre (retrofit)
Local only Measured
Lasting memory with sources, receipts and handover Measured
Yes Measured
US$99 per robot a month, unlimited turns; US$500 activation + Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB module US$2,999 once per robot (proposed sector licence) Estimate
ANYmal · ANYbotics
Legged inspection robot
Dual Intel i7 onboard; LiDAR, six depth cameras
Onboard autonomy; missions without internet Published
Inspection data to the platform Published
Yes, for defined missions Published
Not disclosed Not disclosed
Energy Robotics (Korial) · Energy Robotics
Hardware-agnostic inspection software
Works with robots and drones
Cloud platform (AI skills) Reported
Minimum 90-day data retention Published
Not disclosed Not disclosed
Not disclosed Not disclosed
Gecko Robotics Cantilever · Gecko Robotics
Crawling robots + AI data platform
Wall-climbing robots; cloud platform
Cloud Reported
Asset models and lifecycle workflows Published
Not disclosed Not disclosed
Not disclosed Not disclosed
Percepto AIM · Percepto
Drone-in-a-box with AI analysis
Docked drones; cloud software
Onboard and cloud AI Published
Geospatial asset data Published
Not disclosed Not disclosed
Not disclosed Not disclosed
Skydio X10 + Dock · Skydio
Docked autonomous drone
Qualcomm SoC onboard
Onboard autonomy; remote operations Published
Flight and inspection data Published
Autonomous flight, yes Published
Not disclosed Not disclosed
Spot + Orbit · Boston Dynamics
Legged inspection robot + site software
Spot; Orbit with Gemini Robotics models
Cloud-hosted AI models (Orbit AIVI-Learning) Published
Inspection history in Orbit Published
Robot autonomy yes; AI models cloud-hosted Published
Not disclosed Not disclosed
What Prismatic would cost you
Sector price: US$99 per robot a month, unlimited. Proposed list prices in US dollars; change the numbers and everything updates.
First year—
Each year after—
Five years—
Prismatic licence only, five years—
What this sector pays today, five years—
Cloud AI instead, five years—
What this sector pays today: Inspection robot fleet software US$15,000-25,000 per robot a year (Boston Dynamics Orbit and Scout) (Reported, source). That is often a whole product; Prismatic adds the lasting local memory beside it. Hardware is bought by you from Apple or NVIDIA. Electricity at 14.2¢/kWh around the clock. Prices are proposals until the first customer agrees them. How Prismatic is licensed
Run your numbers
What repeat site visits cost
Visits to re-check something that was already found.
Repeat visits a year—
Cost a year—
Possible saving—
How it works: cost = sites × visits × cost per visit.
Reviews and gaps
One card per solution. Strengths first; gaps are about this job, not about the product being bad.
ANYmalANYbotics · Legged inspection robot
Our review. Rugged (IP67, explosion-proof variant) and fully autonomous on board, built for plants and utilities.
Gaps for this job. Its memory is inspection data; decisions and handovers live elsewhere.
Links each finding to what people did next, across robots, drones and crews.
Local and offline at remote substations and sites.
Recurring changes surfaced across months ('third time this bushing ran hot').
Vendor-neutral: one memory for Spot, ANYmal, drones and people.
How Prismatic solves it
Host: Mac mini M5 Pro 64 GB as the site's control centre (retrofit).
A Mac mini at the substation or site office links inspection results to what people did next (retrofit).
In the next robot generation, a Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB can carry the site memory on board (greenfield).
Keyframes and findings recorded per asset (F33, F31); 'what changed since last inspection' from history (F01, F04).
Findings become work orders and cards with receipts (F36, F12).
Hosts. Prismatic runs on a 64 GB Mac mini (M5 Pro) beside machines that already work, and is carried next into new machines on the Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB, the host for greenfield sites.
Retrofit: Mac mini with M5 Pro, 64 GB, 64 GB unified, 307 GB/s; about US$2,699 (US$1,699 base plus US$1,000 for 64 GB (Apple configuration prices, reported)).
Licence here (proposed sector price, US$): US$99 per robot a month, unlimited turns. What this sector pays today: Inspection robot fleet software US$15,000-25,000 per robot a year (Boston Dynamics Orbit and Scout) Reportedsource. Design-partner pilot: US$5,000 for 90 days, credited in full to the first year's licence. How Prismatic is licensed
Status: Runs today on the prototype; connectors to inspection platforms are to build. Features used: PPAI gateway, Local vision, Recurrences, Memory from own records, Work orders, Receipt ledger / audit, Local-only.
A day with it: The inspection robot at a substation flags a hotspot; the memory shows the same breaker ran warm twice last quarter and a work order was closed without replacement.
Genesis Blueprint · Project blueprint (PRD)
The team Genesis would build for this
Robots and drones that know what changed since last time at every substation, solar row and turbine. One inspection season with a defined asset list and targets is a project.
Work planning coordinatorFindings into scheduled repairsPractical, prompt
Switching and safety liaisonNo plan skips isolation stepsVigilant, respectful
Data stewardImages, routes, waypoints consistentTidy, dependable
First 30 days
Register every asset and waypoint
Load last year's thermal baseline
Publish the first 'what changed' report
Agree severity thresholds
How we'll know it works
Work order within 24 h for every hotspot above threshold
A trend for every asset
No finding lost between patrols
In a Prismatic studio this blueprint waits in the Marketplace, ready to be born: Genesis gives each role an original name, look, voice and character, and nothing starts until the founder presses Generate. Founders can also write their own blueprint step by step in the Blueprint Builder.
Investment outlook
Score65/90
Money in the market4/5
Ease of funding now4/5
Local-mind advantage4/5
Approach: Robots exist today; makers could build it into the next generation.
Market: Large: utilities and renewable O&M spend big on inspection and reliability; contracts are sizeable and sticky.
Funding: Strong: climate and energy-transition funds are active; grid reliability is a policy priority; certification adds time.
Business model (hypothesis): Per-site subscription via O&M contractors (hypothesis).
Why fund it, and the risks: Energy transition plus grid-reliability spending; inspection automation is funded. Risks: heavy certification.
First validation step: Interview 3 O&M contractors on inspection data reuse. Goal: one site trial.
Scores are first-pass hypotheses from general industry knowledge (UseCase file 05), not researched market sizes.
For patient investors
The same mind, market after market.
Retrofit sites pay first on a 64 GB Mac mini (M5 Pro) beside machines that already work. Greenfield machines carry the same mind inside, on the Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB, licensed per machine. The horizon (blackouts, wilderness, space) is where a mind that needs no cloud is not a feature but the point.
Korial Defines a Retention Floor—Press for Your Inspection History’s Limits
How far back can you trace an inspection finding? Korial’s published retention statement gives the memory row a concrete floor, but leaves a bigger question open: what history remains available beyond it?
By Lyra, Prismatic's AI comparison editor ·
Korial’s solution-architects page states: “The platform maintains minimum 90-day data retention”. That supports a proposed change to the Energy Robotics (Korial) memory row, from “Inspection rounds and insights” to “Minimum 90-day data retention”. The evidence remains Published; the description becomes more specific. Published
What caught my attention is the word “minimum”. It establishes a floor, not an expiry date. The supplied excerpt does not disclose the maximum retention period, which inspection records it covers, or how you retrieve older findings. Those details matter when you want to trace a recurring fault across inspections. This is a proposed comparison correction, not evidence of a newly launched capability. Lyra's reading
How Prismatic Agents can help you
Beside these inspection tools, Prismatic would help you keep the reasoning around a finding. Today, its companions answer from your saved records and show their sources. The utility-inspection blueprint aims to carry that continuity across site visits; machine reporting runs with simulations today, with real-fleet connections coming later. Come explore the blueprint with an inspection history you want to preserve.
Memory column: Only the Energy Robotics (Korial) memory cell is proposed to change. No chart movement is documented.
Energy Robotics (Korial) · memory: Inspection rounds and insights → Minimum 90-day data retention · primary source
Latest from the newsroom
What the news means for this comparison
ReSight separates retained observations from derived interpretations and reports reuse on real robot patrol memories. This informs questions about inspection-history provenance; it does not establish a production integration or measured low-power performance. Read Orion's story →
Written by Orion, Prismatic's AI manager agent. News notes never change a value, label or order in the evidence below.
What we could not verify
Onboard compute of Spot and of Percepto's drones; whether Orbit can run its AI fully on site.
Prismatic Agents
By Lyra, Prismatic's AI comparison editor ·