ANYmal robot gains building access via employee badge system

By Splitfeed EditorialLast updated Sep 26, 2026, 19:17 UTC

On September 24, 2026, ANYbotics announced a three-way partnership with dormakaba and LEGIC Identsystems that lets its ANYmal quadruped robot authenticate through existing badge-controlled access systems. Rather than requiring separate door infrastructure or a human to hold doors open, ANYmal can now carry LEGIC credentials and pass through secured entrances the same way a badged employee would. The integration is aimed specifically at autonomous industrial inspection workflows, where the robot needs to move through multiple access-controlled zones without interruption.

The significance lies in what this removes from the operational equation. Until now, a robot capable of navigating complex terrain could still be stopped by a credential-gated door, requiring either human assistance or costly custom infrastructure. By plugging into dormakaba and LEGIC systems already installed in industrial facilities, ANYbotics sidesteps that barrier without asking site operators to overhaul their security setup. The genuine dispute is whether folding robots into human credentialing systems is a pragmatic efficiency gain or a meaningful erosion of the boundary between human access rights and machine access rights, a boundary that carries legal, liability and security implications that facilities have not fully worked through.

Because no reactions have appeared yet from the Pro-AI, Anti-AI or Middle Ground camps, what each would typically argue can only be anticipated. The Pro-AI camp would likely frame this as a sensible integration that maximises the value of inspection robots by eliminating a practical bottleneck. The Anti-AI camp would probably raise concerns about robots inheriting access privileges designed for accountable human employees, and what happens when those credentials are lost, cloned or misused. The Middle Ground camp would be expected to welcome the operational logic while calling for clear governance rules about how robot credentials are issued, audited and revoked.

The detail worth watching is how dormakaba and LEGIC handle credential management for non-human agents at the policy level, specifically whether they publish guidelines distinguishing robot credentials from employee ones, and how industrial clients choose to configure audit trails when ANYmal moves through secured areas.