A Job Still Done by Hand, at Height

The electricity grid depends on maintenance most people never see. High-voltage insulators have to be cleaned regularly: when dirt and salt build up, they can flash over, causing outages, equipment damage and, in the worst cases, bushfires.

Yet the way that work gets done has barely changed. "Maintaining powerlines still means putting a person next to the asset, using bucket trucks, rope crews or helicopters," Rasmus says. "That access is expensive, slow or hard to scale, and all of it is dangerous, so maintenance gets deferred."

The numbers back him up. According to PROXGRID, Australia spends an estimated $50 million to $80 million a year cleaning powerline insulators, much of it by specialist helicopter crews costing around $15,000 an hour, with pilots who take years to train.

Rasmus knows the problem first-hand. A commercial helicopter and drone pilot, he has worked as ground crew on powerline insulator cleaning operations. He co-founded PROXGRID with CEO Rasmus Gupta, who previously led development of a live-line drone certified for contact at 765 kilovolts, now in commercial use with Hydro-Québec.

Most Drones Look. This One Does the Work.

The SPD25 is PROXGRID's answer. "The SPD25 is an aerial robot that does contact work on infrastructure using interchangeable payloads," Aiden says. "Our drone is safer, quicker and cheaper."

The live-line platform carries up to 12 kg, feeds a high-pressure line to its spray boom and holds position with centimetre-level RTK accuracy. PROXGRID is developing it to inspect, wash and coat insulators on energised lines in a single pass, with no outage and no person near the wire. The company estimates the approach could cut cleaning costs from around $410 per insulator string to around $60.

Washing is only the start. "The platform will also be able to take on other tasks, such as sensor installation," Rasmus says.

The SPD25 has already completed free-flight field testing of its spray system, and PROXGRID has lodged a provisional patent and secured a build and test site at ARM Hub in Brisbane.

Why Now

The pressure on the grid is only growing. "The grid is ageing and renewables are expanding, not to mention all the data centres being built. Maintaining infrastructure has never been more important," Rasmus says.

The stakes are high. "Faults not only cause outages but can also start wildfires that destroy structures and kill people," he says. "Current methods aren't keeping up with the maintenance workload, and utilities are now actively looking for drones to do this work."

His prediction is bold: "In a few years' time we'll look back at how this work used to be done and ask ourselves why we weren't doing it this way years ago."

Perth Residency Week: From Demonstrator to First Jobs

PROXGRID came to Perth with a clear list. "Conversations with utilities, service providers, and the investors and mentors in the Founders Factory network," Aiden says.

Top of that list is landing the SPD25's first paying work. "We want to find the first utility and service-provider jobs for the SPD25 and work out how to scale from there," he says. "Fundraising is close behind, since we need capital for our first production batch."

The next milestone is already in sight: getting into the trials PROXGRID is currently planning with its customers.

For Aiden, none of that happens over email alone. "It's always better in person," he says. "You make real connections, and those are the ones that lead somewhere."

PROXGRID is part of the fifth Nature Tech cohort of the Western Australia Nature Tech Accelerator, delivered by Founders Factory in partnership with the Government of Western Australia.