Clobotics' Sparrow Robot Repairs an Offshore Wind Turbine Blade in 27 Minutes

Chinese AI company Clobotics (扩博智能) and Danish energy group Ørsted announced in July 2026 that their Sparrow robot cut the repair of a single offshore wind turbine blade to 27 minutes at the Horns Rev 2 wind farm. That is up to 10 times faster than previous maintenance, with costs down by 50–75%.

What the Sparrow robot can do

The Sparrow robot repairs wind turbine blades automatically, right at sea, without sending crews of industrial climbers up to heights of many meters. At the Danish Horns Rev 2 wind farm, it restored one blade in 27 minutes and managed to process up to eight blades per day, a pace manual maintenance could not match. Previously, a repair like this required shutting down the turbine and lowering rope-access technicians down the blade, or bringing in a vessel with a crane.

The work stretched over hours and depended on the weather at sea. Clobotics is known for AI inspection systems that analyze drone imagery of wind turbines. Sparrow extends that approach from diagnostics to automated repair: the system finds coating defects on the blade by itself, plans a trajectory and carries out the treatment.

• Repair time per blade: 27 minutes (a new industry record)
• Up to 8 blades in a single day
• Maintenance efficiency gain: up to 10x
• Cost reduction: 50–75%
• Site: Horns Rev 2 offshore wind farm (Denmark)

Why is blade repair so expensive?

Maintenance remains one of the costliest items in running offshore wind farms. Reaching blades at height and out at sea requires vessels, cranes and crews of rope-access technicians, and the weather window for the work is narrow. Blade leading edges wear down quickly at sea under the impact of rain, salt and sand, so regular coating repair is critical for aerodynamics and power output.

The longer a turbine waits for a crew, the more generation it loses. The Sparrow robot removes much of that burden: according to Clobotics and Ørsted, automation speeds up repairs by up to ten times and cuts their cost by 50–75%. Ørsted is one of the world's largest operators of offshore wind farms, so the technology proven at Horns Rev 2 could scale to dozens of its sites.

The

Horns Rev 2 project cut the repair of a single blade to 27 minutes and made it possible to service up to eight blades per day, according to an Ørsted statement cited by 36Kr.

What this means

Robotic blade repair moves offshore wind maintenance from a manual mode to an automated one. If the Horns Rev 2 results, 27 minutes per blade, can be reproduced at other sites, operators will be able to reduce turbine downtime and lower operating costs. For an industry that is growing fast and facing a shortage of qualified rope-access technicians, robotic maintenance reduces both costs and the dependence on people working at dangerous heights.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Sparrow robot?

Sparrow is a Clobotics robot for automatic repair of wind turbine blades. It works directly on offshore turbines and, according to Ørsted, restores one blade in 27 minutes.

How much does the robot speed up wind farm maintenance?

At the Horns Rev 2 wind farm, Sparrow raised maintenance efficiency by up to 10x and cut repair costs by 50–75%, processing up to eight blades per day.

Where has the Sparrow robot been deployed?

The project was carried out at the Danish offshore wind farm Horns Rev 2, which is owned by the energy group Ørsted.