Swiss-based startup Borobotics has developed a new autonomous drilling machine to help make geothermal energy more accessible for domestic and commercial customers. Dubbed the ‘world’s most powerful worm’, the new drill should help make energy locked inside the Earth cheaper and easier to tap.
“Drilling will become possible on properties where it would be unthinkable today—small gardens, parking lots, and potentially even basements,” Moritz Pill, Borobotics’ co-founder, explained to The Next Web (TNW).
The drill ‘worm’ measures as little as 5.3 inches (13.5 cm) in diameter and is 9 feet (2.8 meters) long. This compact drill head can rapidly and quietly bore through the ground in relatively small spaces like your backyard.
Autonomous drill comes with sensors
Nicknamed ‘Grabowski’, after the famous cartoon mole, the entire drill setup can work autonomously without human intervention. The drill head even includes sensors that can continuously detect what material it is drilling through.
This allows the drill to autonomously change direction or stop drilling altogether if it hits something like a water or gas reservoir. If this happens, the dill can autonomously seal these hazards shut. Furthermore, the drill runs purely on electricity, unlike more conventional models that operate on fuel.
However, despite its clear advantages, the drill is not without drawbacks. The first and most critical is that it tends to be slower than conventional drills. Additionally, it can only drill up to a maximum depth of 1,640 feet (500 meters).
However, according to the company, the drilling machine should prove more than adequate for the target market. Borobotics wants to tap the shallow geothermal market rather than the more conventional deep borehole market.
“In many European countries, at a depth of 250 meters, you have an average temperature of 14 degrees C,” said Pill. “This is ideal for efficient heating in winter while still being cold enough to cool the building in summer.”
Shallow or horizontal geothermal energy typically involves using a network of subterranean pipes to transfer heat from below the ground to a structure or a building on the surface. This system is usually connected to a specially designed heat pump. Using the ground, rather than air, as the heat exchange environment, the system can heat or cool the building all year round.
Still early days
“The potential of geothermal heat pumps to decarbonize Europe is substantial, as long as the cost comes down,” Torsten Kolind, managing partner at Underground Ventures, told TNW. “The minute that happens, the market is open,” he added.
Borobotics claims its Grabowski is “very resource efficient” and needs minimal maintenance owing to its compact size. “A small team arrive to a site with a Sprinter van containing everything necessary to drill. They set the drill in half a day and from then on it works autonomously,” stated Pill who founded the company in 2023.
He explained that one or two people would be able to manage around a dozen drill sites simultaneously, providing geothermal energy to several customers at the same time. Borobotics is currently working towards refining the drill machine’s prototype.