As asset owners across the oil and gas and industrial sectors face increasing pressure to improve safety, reduce downtime, and strengthen inspection quality, the need for smarter inspection strategies has never been greater. Aging infrastructure, tighter regulatory expectations, and the operational realities of inspecting complex assets are pushing the industry to look beyond conventional methods alone.
Traditional inspection methods remain fundamental. But today’s operating environments often require additional tools that can improve access, reduce personnel exposure, and generate better data for faster, more confident decision-making.
To help meet those demands, HMT is proud to announce two new strategic collaborations: one with Aero Velocity, leveraging advanced drone-enabled inspection and digital asset intelligence capabilities, and another with Arix Technologies, a leader in robotic inspection solutions for pipelines and Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI).
Together, these collaborations strengthen HMT’s ability to deliver safer, smarter, and more comprehensive inspection solutions while reinforcing the technical rigor, reliability, and execution quality our customers expect.
Meeting the Inspection Challenges of Modern Assets
Across the industry, operators are being asked to do more with less disruption. Many critical assets are difficult to access, located in hazardous environments, or require costly shutdowns and specialized access methods when inspected using conventional approaches alone.
These challenges are especially common across assets such as:
- aboveground storage tanks
- internal floating roof tanks
- terminal piping systems
- process piping and pipe racks
- spheres and pressure vessels
- structural steel and elevated platforms
- flare systems and stacks
- roofs, facades, and hard-to-access building envelopes
- industrial plants, terminals, refineries, and large operating facilities
In these environments, the challenge is not simply collecting data. It is collecting the right data, at the right time, in a way that supports sound engineering judgment, maintenance planning, and risk-based decision-making.
That is where advanced drone and robotic technologies can create meaningful value.
When paired with experienced inspectors and established inspection programs, these tools do not replace proven methods. They strengthen them by improving visibility, enhancing planning, and helping teams gather high-quality information while reducing unnecessary risk and operational impact.
Expanding Inspection Through Drone and Robotics Technology
Through HMT’s collaboration with Aero Velocity, we are expanding our capabilities in drone-enabled visual inspection, thermal imaging, and digital asset intelligence across a wide range of industrial assets and operating environments.
These capabilities support inspection programs by helping improve access to hard-to-reach areas, reducing personnel exposure in elevated or confined spaces, and improving how visual and spatial data is captured and analyzed.
In addition, HMT’s collaboration with Arix Technologies expands our ability to address one of the industry’s most persistent integrity challenges: Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI). Through advanced robotic pipeline inspection technologies, HMT can help operators gather meaningful condition data in situations where traditional inspection access may be limited, costly, or disruptive.
Together, these technologies provide customers with broader inspection options while maintaining the consistency, quality, and accountability expected from HMT.
Better Field Data for Better Inspection Decisions
When integrated into HMT’s broader inspection approach, advanced drone and robotic technologies can support:
- safer access to challenging environments
- reduced personnel exposure in confined or elevated spaces
- improved planning for follow-up inspection or repair scopes
- stronger documentation for maintenance, integrity, and compliance decisions
- faster collection of visual, thermal, and spatial data with less disruption to operations
In active terminals and operating facilities, where time, safety, and coordination matter, these capabilities can significantly improve how inspections are planned and executed.
A More Integrated Inspection Strategy
These collaborations represent more than the addition of new technologies. They reflect HMT’s broader commitment to delivering a more integrated inspection strategy, one that combines established expertise with advanced tools tailored to specific asset types, operating conditions, and customer objectives.
By combining HMT’s inspection leadership with advanced drone and robotic technologies, we can better align inspection methods to the realities of each job.
This integrated approach enables HMT to deliver:
- improved safety by reducing human exposure to hazardous and hard-to-access environments
- greater efficiency through faster data collection and reduced operational disruption
- higher-quality insight to support integrity management and maintenance planning
- more complete asset understanding through visual, thermal, and digital data
- more flexible execution across both routine inspection scopes and complex inspection challenges
- streamlined project delivery through a single trusted provider coordinating advanced inspection solutions
For customers, that means access to broader capabilities without sacrificing consistency, quality, or accountability.
Better Data. Smarter Decisions. Stronger Outcomes.
Inspection is not only about identifying issues. It is about generating the clarity needed to make smart operational and maintenance decisions.
Whether supporting a routine tank integrity program, improving visibility inside a confined space, assessing pipelines impacted by CUI, or helping operators reduce uncertainty in complex environments, advanced drones and robotics can help teams focus resources where they matter most.
At HMT, we see these collaborations as an important step forward in how inspection services are delivered: not as a departure from proven inspection practices, but as an evolution of them.
Looking Ahead
Innovation at HMT is driven by a simple goal: helping customers inspect critical assets more safely, more efficiently, and with greater confidence in the outcomes.
Our collaborations with Aero Velocity and Arix Technologies reflect that commitment. By investing in advanced inspection technologies and aligning them with HMT’s deep field expertise, we are continuing to expand the ways we support smarter asset management across the industries we serve.
We look forward to working with our customers to apply these capabilities where they create the greatest value: reducing risk, improving efficiency, and helping extend the life of critical infrastructure.
To learn more about HMT’s expanded inspection capabilities or discuss an upcoming project, contact our team.
