Brisbane company designs drone for powerline insulator cleaning

Brisbane company ProxGrid is building a drone that is designed to work on energised powerlines: inspecting, washing and coating insulators in a single pass, with no outage required and no human near the wire.

This innovative technology has seen the company selected as one of seven finalists in Propel-AIR 2026, Australia’s dedicated AI and robotics sprint delivered by the ARM Hub AI Adopt Centre. ProxGrid will now compete for the opportunity to work with and alongside MassRobotics in Boston, the global epicentre of robotics innovation.

Replacing helicopter maintenance

Australia spends an estimated $50 million to $80 million a year cleaning powerline insulators. The work is carried out by specialist helicopter crews at about $15,000 an hour, with pilots requiring a decade to train, according to ProxGrid.

“High-tension powerlines need regular cleaning to prevent flashover, which can result in outages, damage to the system, or even catastrophic bushfires,” said ProxGrid founder and CEO Rasmus Gupta.

The company estimates its drone-based approach will cut cleaning costs from around $410 per insulator string to around $60.

Challenges of an expanding grid

The pressure on Australia’s current grid is growing, as evidenced in the re-emergence of weather-driven insulator pollution across South Australian networks in 2025 and 2026.

A significant factor is the acceleration of Australia’s transmission build-out in order to accommodate the transition to renewable energy.

“Towards 2040 we need to build 1.5 times the powerlines we have today, so that’s a huge expansion of the power grid,” Gupta said. “There’s unlimited work for helicopters just servicing what we already have, but not nearly enough supply, and we’re already years behind.”

Gupta previously led development of a live-line drone certified for contact at 765 kilovolts, which is now in commercial operation with Hydro-Québec. ProxGrid’s operations manager Aiden Cairns is a commercial helicopter and drone pilot who has worked as ground crew on powerline insulator cleaning operations.

What’s next?

ProxGrid has lodged a provisional patent, and secured a build and test site at ARM Hub in Brisbane. The company is co-applying for innovation project funding with the University of Queensland and a transmission network service provider. ProxGrid plans to operate the system directly under cleaning contracts with utilities first, then sell certified systems globally, with a data platform to follow.

Through Propel-AIR, ProxGrid is raising $300,000 in pre-seed investment to build two demonstrator spray drones and expand its engineering team ahead of certification, with regulatory testing towards live-line permits planned for early 2027.

The winner of Propel-AIR will travel to MassRobotics in Boston for a one-month residency, with access to leading robotics companies and world-class institutions like MIT and Harvard.

Image credit: iStock.com/Phillip Wittke