First reported Sep 26 — we wrote this up later than the original.
RobotPlusPlus Brings HighMate Maintenance Robots to Europe at SMM 2026
Chinese robotics maker debuts magnetic coating and cleaning robots for ships and industrial structures in Hamburg
Chinese engineering-focused robotics company RobotPlusPlus (ROBOT++) used the SMM 2026 shipbuilding and maritime exhibition in Hamburg, Germany, to introduce its HighMate line of industrial maintenance robots to European buyers, as reported by Robot Newspaper (로봇신문).
The flagship product on display was the HighMate AP-F-CO Coating Robot + VOC Recovery System, designed to replace manual painting on ships, storage tanks, bridges, and other large steel structures. Manual coating work is often plagued by harmful particulate exposure, high paint loss, and heavy reliance on individual worker skill. RobotPlusPlus says the AP-F-CO addresses these issues directly.
The robot uses permanent magnets to cling to steel surfaces and can adapt to curved surfaces with a radius as tight as 3 meters. It carries two spray nozzles with adjustable spacing and travel speed, which the company says helps minimize coating defects such as orange peel texture and sagging while keeping overspray to a minimum. Throughput is rated at 300 to 500 square meters per hour. A built-in recovery system captures airborne paint particles during operation, keeping worksites cleaner and reducing environmental impact.
Alongside the coating robot, RobotPlusPlus displayed the ATEX Zone 1-certified HighMate AP Ex series, built around a universal magnetic carrier with swappable modules for hydro blasting, cleaning, painting, and abrasive blasting. The company states it achieves a wastewater recovery rate above 99% and processes more than 40 square meters per hour.
Two additional systems drew attention at the booth: the C20 Cargo Hold Cleaning Robot, engineered for enclosed cargo hold spaces, and the HighMate Ultra Series Surface Preparation Robot, which uses a flexible four-wheel magnetic crawler to navigate complex curved surfaces like ship hulls.
Hua-Yang Xu, founder and CEO of RobotPlusPlus, said he was pleased to demonstrate how the HighMate series can handle increasingly demanding industrial tasks. "As the HighMate AP-F-CO Coating Robot + VOC Recovery System makes its first entry into overseas markets, ROBOT++ hopes to bring a higher level of automation and efficiency to high-risk work environments," he said.
RobotPlusPlus was founded in 2015 by PhD graduates of Tsinghua University and has been recognized as a national intellectual-property excellence enterprise in China. Since 2017 the company has focused on intelligent special-purpose robots and is counted among China's early commercializers of intelligent high-altitude work robots. Its product and service portfolio spans hull rust removal, surface preparation for oil and gas tanks, wind turbine inspection, and building facade cleaning. The company holds more than 480 patents and already supplies robots to markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, Oceania, and Africa.
The Hamburg showcase marks the company's push to expand its footprint beyond Asia, positioning the HighMate coating system as a tool for shipyards and industrial operators looking to cut labor exposure and improve coating consistency at scale.
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