Robot dog detecting Angel’s Share whisky leaks – Daily Business

A robot dog is being used to identify small but potentially expensive ethanol leaks – known as the Angel’s share – in whisky warehouses.

Ethanol evaporation is a natural part of the whisky maturation process, which happens as the liquid sits in the barrel to age for a minimum of three years before it legally becomes Scotch whisky.

This loss of the angel’s share requires careful monitoring to ensure as much liquid as possible is kept in the barrel, as well as ensuring safety.

The National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) is now testing robot technology at the Bacardi-owned John Dewar & Sons maturation site near Glasgow. The initiative is also supported by the Scotch Whisky Research Institute (SWRI).

It could also be applied across multiple industries – from chemicals to energy.

Angus Holmes, whisky category director at Bacardi said: “We’re proud to be playing our part to pioneer this new technology in the whisky industry and look forward to progressing from these trials to developing a live system that can be used at our sites in the future. 

“The team loved having the robot dog around so much we gave him his own Bacardi name – ‘Royal Bark-la’ in homage to our Royal Brackla single malt.”

Andrew Hamilton head of the digital process manufacturing centre (DPMC) added: “Our aim here is to validate our own sensing kit and see whether robots can take on this type of inspection work.

“The early results are promising, and it shows how manufacturing technologies being developed in Scotland are relevant across many sectors including the whisky industry. It’s been fantastic to work with Bacardi on this – a great example of a company embracing and contributing to innovative new approaches for the industry.”