Pike Robotics
Austin TX spinout of UT Austin; Wall-Eye robot inspects floating roof tanks in-service in hazardous atmospheres; NSF SBIR Phase 2 awardee (2025).
Pike Robotics is an early-stage robotics company headquartered in Austin, Texas, founded circa 2022 as a spinout from the University of Texas at Austin's Nuclear and Applied Robotics Group (Texas Robotics Labs). The company was originally funded by Phillips 66 to address the challenging and hazardous process of inspecting above-ground floating roof storage tanks. Pike Robotics' core product is the Wall-Eye — the first wall-crawling robotic platform designed for deployment in flammable and hazardous atmospheres.
The Wall-Eye eliminates the need for confined-space human entry: it is installed inside a storage tank by a technician using external tools, autonomously navigates to inspection objects, manipulates seals using its pike-shaped arm, collects high-resolution data, and is then retrieved externally. A full inspection mission takes 2–3 hours and requires only 2 personnel with minimal PPE, whereas traditional methods require weeks of asset cleaning, degassing, and additional rescue personnel. After retrieval, the system generates AI-powered inspection reports that include time-to-failure predictions.
The robot's capabilities span Deployment & Retrieval, Motion & Navigation, Autonomy & Control (mission planning, task allocation), Environment Interaction (manipulation, inspection and data collection), Sustaining Systems (umbilical, onboard power and communication), and Human-Machine Interface. More than 15 customers in the energy sector have contributed to its development. There are over 130,000 large floating roof storage tanks globally requiring annual inspection, with approximately 25% located in North America.
Pike Robotics has received NSF SBIR Phase 1 (2023) and Phase 2 (2025) awards, was a DeepStar Technology Consortium Core Project Awardee for both 2024/25 and 2025/26, won the Chevron Technology Ventures Facilities of the Future Pitch Competition (2023), and was a Rice University Business Plan Competition Finalist (2023). Lead investors include NextFab Ventures and Antler; total disclosed funding is approximately $795K. The founding team includes CEO Connor Crawford, who completed his master's degree in mechanical engineering at UT Austin in 2022.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Wall-Eye
Wall-crawling inspection robot for in-service floating roof storage tanks in hazardous/flammable atmospheres; inspects in 2–3 hours with no confined space entry.
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Contact Pike Robotics
WEBSITE
https://www.pikerobotics.comHEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
2022
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
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Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
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Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
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