Electric powertrains for clean construction
On a gray Wednesday morning in January, we meet Jai – Managing Director of Dot Robot – in Delft. The office, consisting of four floors, overlooks the TU Delft campus – ideal for recruitment purposes, the managing director jokes. Jai comes across as enthusiastic and energetic and talks a mile a minute about the collaboration with TNO. We ask him about the collaboration with TNO Fast Track.
DOT Robot in a nutshell.
Dot Robot designs and develops electric drives to enable emission-free industrial machines for construction. They distinguish three different segments: light, medium and heavy. In the heavy segment you should think of excavators for construction or earthmoving. Dot Robot's electric drive lines for construction equipment consist of software, mechanics, control technology and electrical engineering. Jai: "We also add intelligence to that, so that important data is unlocked so that the machines can perform optimally." As an example, Jai enthusiastically talks about the Tiel Waardenburg dike reinforcement project in which Dot Robot is involved.
Dot Robot works there with a construction machine equipped with 3 removable batteries of 1.2 Megawatt-hours, which is comparable to 15 Teslas. Because the dike borders a Natura 2000 area, our client's machines had to be emission-free. Excavators use a lot of energy, but Dot Robot only had a 55 kW connection available during the project. Therefore, smart management of available resources and charging capacity is essential. Dot Robot then builds all the software, drive systems, and communication with the battery.
How did get in toch with TNO Fast Track?
Through a former colleague from Accenture, Jai got the idea to reach out to TNO Fast Track. Jai was looking for specific knowledge – compliance regulations in the world of network operators – which Dot Robot did not have in-house. Thus, he ended up on the TNO Fast Track website, filled out the form, and was called the next day. Since then, things have started to roll, and in no time, an Expert Session XL (with experts from the TNO unit Mobility and Built Environment) was planned and organized in Eindhoven.
Can you recommend working with TNO Fast Track?
Absolutely. The speed with which TNO Fast Track acted has stayed with me. And even better, Dot Robot and TNO jointly applied for the SSEB (Subsidy Scheme for Clean and Emission-Free Construction Equipment | RVO.nl) and won that tender. The initial contact has thus developed into a much larger collaboration. The next step is to develop a smart algorithm for emission-free construction projects, so that efficient use can be made of the limited charging capacity at the emission-free construction site. A very current theme!
Do you want to know more?
For more information about Dot Robot, please reach to them through the Dot Robot website. Do you have a question or issue? Get in touch with TNO Fast Track to make an impact together.
About TNO Fast Track
Do you have a question or issue where you could use TNO's specialized and independent knowledge and R&D? At TNO Fast Track, we are your independent technology partner for startups, scaleups, and innovative SMEs. Schedule an intake with TNO Fast Track, and we will quickly get in touch to accelerate your innovation together.