IFS collaborates with Boston Dynamics to transform field ops

IFS, provider of industrial AI software, and Boston Dynamics, known for its mobile robotics, have collaborated to change how asset-intensive organizations manage and optimize their field operations. Uniting Boston Dynamics' autonomous inspection robots with the power of IFS.ai will create an agentic AI system designed to connect sensing, predictive decision-making and action in the field.

IFS and Boston Dynamics revealed the joint solution for the first time at Industrial X Unleashed in New York on November 13. The two companies showcased the combination of physical AI and agentic AI, creating an end-to-end autonomous system to connect robots and enterprise data. Boston Dynamics’ Spot robots inspect industrial assets and sites, capturing critical operational data in real-time. Spot uses thermal cameras to detect overheating, can listen to air or gas leaks, read analog gauges for pressure and flow, check indicator lights, identify hazards like spills or detect voltage anomalies. This information feeds directly into IFS.ai where agentic AI analyzes the data, makes intelligent decisions and triggers appropriate actions.

The collaboration focuses on serving industries where field operations are critical, including manufacturing, energy, utilities and mining.

Together, IFS and Boston Dynamics are targeting measurable improvements across three critical operational metrics:

• safety, with autonomous inspections reducing human exposure to hazardous environments while increasing inspection frequency and thoroughness
• efficiency, with intelligent automation enabling decision-making and response times and optimizing resource allocation
• uptime, with predictive insights and automated actions helping to prevent failures before they occur and maximizing asset availability.

“Asset-intensive organizations face unrelenting pressure to improve operational performance,” Christian Pedersen, chief product officer, IFS, said. “Together with Boston Dynamics, we’re delivering a truly autonomous system that connects the physical and digital worlds for the first time. IFS.ai and IFS Loops turn robot observations into enterprise action, from preventative maintenance scheduling to predictive failure analysis and automated anomaly detection. Data flows from the field into enterprise systems, decisions are made autonomously, and actions are executed back in the field, all within a single integrated platform.”

Dr. Merry Frayne, director of product, Boston Dynamics, commented: “This collaboration represents the future of industrial operations. Our robots excel at navigating complex environments and gathering critical data. Combined with IFS’s agentic decision-making capabilities, we're enabling organizations to achieve levels of operational excellence and safety that simply weren’t possible before.”

Ron Utterbeck, CIO at Eversource, an IFS customer, said: “As the largest New England energy provider managing critical infrastructure across multiple states, this integration has the potential to radically transform our operations. As our grid continues to advance we need to utilize not only traditional data gathering but more advanced data gathering and modeling. To meet the reliability and the energy demands for our customers, we look forward to the opportunity in utilizing advanced industry technology such to enable data collection at a different level that can support routine inspections of substations and facilities with automatically prioritizing and dispatching our crews. This will allow our highly-skilled crews to be focused on the right priorities at the right time and ensure mission-critical work is completed. It's a genuine shift from reactive to predictive maintenance.”