Chinese robot maker Micbot looks to woo Aramco while chasing Hong Kong IPO

A Chinese robotics firm is accelerating its overseas strategy, with a fleet of AI-powered industrial quadrupeds being primed for Saudi Aramco facilities, while revving up its bid for a listing in Hong Kong next year.

Heavy-duty, explosion-proof robots from Micbot are tipped to join similar products from other suppliers at oilfields, petrochemical bases and mines operated by Aramco, according to Micbot’s chief marketing officer, Huang Ziyan.

Unlike consumer-focused companies that make educational desktop units or agile companion robots, Micbot’s products are intended to replace humans in extreme, demanding or dangerous industrial settings, Huang said in an interview.

Featuring a stout, low-centre-of-gravity chassis with a wheeled-leg design for carrying heavy payloads, its products are engineered to withstand strong magnetic fields, high temperatures, extreme dust, and wet or submerged conditions.

Micbot, based in Zhejiang province, asserts that its core competitiveness is anchored in comprehensive “four-in-one” protection – antimagnetic, explosion-proof, waterproof and freeze-resistant – tailored for some of the most challenging oil and gas production conditions at Aramco and in the broader Saudi Arabian market.

Micbot added that Aramco executives and technicians had paid four visits to its research and development centre in Zhejiang since February, and that Micbot’s products had been optimised with Aramco’s input and were undergoing rigorous tests in China, with the first batch of shipments to Saudi Arabia expected in September or October. Aramco will then provide feedback, before a decision on mass procurement is made by the end of the year, according to Micbot.