Bend, a Skolkovo resident, presented a robotic complex

The stand of Bend, a Skolkovo resident, attracted the attention of visitors at Startup ChemZone. Since 2014, the company has conducted research and development in the field of industrial hydraulics and robotics. Mikhail Boldyrev, General Director of the company, spoke about why they decided to take part in the Khimia 2022 exhibition.

- Bend Engineering and Bend-RT are both involved in the development and production of hydrodynamic cleaning equipment. Bend-RT is a Skolkovo resident developing robotic cleaning devices. And Bend Engineering works on cleaning technologies. We specialise in the development and implementation of innovative technologies. We develop, produce samples and then move on to serial production.

All production is located in Russia. We originally focused on having all our products manufactured and serviced in Russia. Our advantage is the automation of robotics. This is our speciality. And we are well advanced in this field. Other companies have similar developments, but we are ahead of the curve. Our competitors are just beginning to approach the stage we have already mastered. We are now seeing a lot of interest in robotisation of processes, which allows the company to increase output without increasing staff.

- What are the features and advantages of your products?

- I would like to tell you about the robotic complex for cleaning heat exchangers that we presented at the exhibition. What makes it unique? The artificial intelligence control system: automatic positioning and control of the flow of the cleaning nozzle to unclog clogs. Another unique solution is the instrumental quality control of the cleaning (previously this was done visually). It allows the quality of cleaning to be determined and assessed as the operation progresses, which almost halves the time it takes to complete. The instrument control data is archived in text format, which significantly reduces the volume of the archive. The control system allows a single operator to control up to three robots simultaneously. This reduces labour costs by a factor of 3 to 9.

- How do you rate the outcome of the exhibition?

- This is the third time we have taken part in Khimia. In a fast-changing environment, it is preferable to learn the news on the spot. At the exhibition, we understand what our customers breathe, exchange opinions and news with them, and remind them of ourselves. Our customers are mainly in the chemicals and petrochemicals sector. We see that there are a lot more people at this exhibition than at the previous one. A lot of visitors come to our stand, many of them study our website and come to our stand on purpose. Some come after having read the publications in the catalogue, some come prepared with their questions and some just want to get to know each other. As a result, I can say that we have established several new contacts and a large number of visitors are interested.