The company Borobotics, which specialises in geothermal drilling, is receiving CHF 1.3 million in funding from innovation support agency Innosuisse. The funds will be used to further develop the Grabowski drill.
The Winterthur-based company Borobotics has received 1.3 million Swiss francs from Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency, for the development of an innovative drilling robot, according to a LinkedIn post. In response to the problem of the energy-intensive and expensive production of boreholes for geothermal probes, Borobotics wants to revolutionise geothermal heating processes with a drilling robot that can work in a small space and at significantly lower costs.
The Grabowski drilling robot is intended to bring geothermal energy to city centres. According to the company’s website, Grabowski is a 2.5 metre by 135 millimetre robot that replaces the 6 metre high and 10 tonne drilling machines currently in use. Grabowski requires a total of 6 to 8 square metres of space. The prototype 2.0 is almost fully assembled and will start the test phase in the coming weeks, according to LinkedIn.
According to the press release, previous methods have disadvantages such as energy intensity, enormous costs, inaccuracy, noise pollution, landscape destruction and space requirements. With additional equipment, the Borobotics drilling robot requires up to 90 percent less space than previous solutions and reduces costs at the same time. Borobotics describes its development as ‘an earthworm-like robot’ that moves vertically into the ground without a drilling rig or drill pipes. ce/gba
