A half-finished painting robot intended for the construction industry has been turned into a successful cleaning robot for hatchery and grow-out facilities. Now the start-up EasyX has sold its first commercial unit.
At HavExpo, LandbasedAQ met the start-up EasyX, which has been in the industry for around a year.
The founders, Sindre and Bård Hansen, come from the oil and gas industry. They told us they had grown tired of painting their own houses and developed a robot to make the job easier.
"We never quite got the robot working, but Jan Fredrik Gjerstad told us about the need for proper cleaning robots in land-based aquaculture, and that's how our journey into aquaculture began," says Sindre Hansen.
An easier way
Gjerstad helped start Hygienegruppen and has worked in the aquaculture industry for many years. He told LandbasedAQ that he has experienced first-hand how time-consuming it is to clean land-based fish tanks, and he shared those experiences with the Hansen duo.
"We felt there had to be an easier way for employees to clean the tanks, and above all one that is better for health and safety and more hygienic, without people having to stand physically inside the tanks with a pressure washer. That led us to join forces and develop this cleaning robot," says Gjerstad.
Cleans and disinfects tanks
Jan Fredrik Gjerstad and Sindre Hansen of EasyX are delighted to be delivering their first commercial unit this week.
The founders also chose to launch a cleaning robot for land-based aquaculture because so much of the work involves dangerous work at height on non-metallic surfaces such as plastic and concrete.
"We received support from Innovation Norway for market research, and in May 2022 we successfully tested a prototype for cleaning and disinfecting fish farming facilities. Since then, we have had several prototypes undergoing testing at the farming company," says Sindre Hansen.
He explains that the robot uses compressors to generate negative pressure, which pulls it against the surface and gives the machine a downforce of around 400 kilos.
"The robot also has a track material that gets quite good grip on very slippery surfaces, such as tank walls covered in biofilm and soap, which allows it to drive up the tank walls," Hansen explains.
The robot is operated only in empty tanks and is made of carbon fibre. Foam nozzles at the rear of the unit allow farmers to apply any chemistry they like, whether soap or disinfectant. Five or six spray nozzles at the front let it spray like a pressure washer.
"The customer can attach whichever hose they prefer, whether a high-pressure or low-pressure system, and the machine is driven with a joystick," he explains.
The robot is connected to a 400V circuit provided by the customer, which powers the robot itself.
A milestone
Friday, May 10, marked a new milestone for the company.
"Today we're delivering our first commercial robot to a fish farmer," says Hansen.
The company is planning a larger batch of 15–25 robots in Q3/Q4.
"Our goal for the year is to get at least 15 robots out in the market, and of course we want to expand. But we don't want to grow too fast. We want to do things at a sensible pace," he says.
The company now has five employees, all working full time on developing the product.
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