Embodied Intelligence for Safer Power-System Field Operations: A Critical Review of Technologies, Applications, and Challenges

Modern power grids require safer and more reliable field operations, yet conventional robots often face limitations in unstructured environments because of rigid pre-programming and weak perception–action coupling. This review examines Embodied Intelligence (EI) as an emerging direction for enhancing power-system field operations. We first evaluate the environmental adaptability of morphological carriers, including quadrupeds, humanoids, and unmanned aerial vehicles, and then define the perception–cognition–execution closed-loop architecture used in this review. Three application domains are then examined. Intelligent inspection focuses on active perception and potential open-vocabulary object detection. Live-line maintenance emphasizes Sim-to-Real methods and shared autonomy, while disaster-response applications involve heterogeneous air–ground robotic coordination. The review also discusses the potential for EI to reduce human exposure to hazardous tasks and influence labor structures, while a regional text-based proxy illustrates differences in policy attention to digital infrastructure. Finally, we analyze major constraints, including hardware endurance under extreme climates, edge-computing latency, foundation-model uncertainty and hallucination, cybersecurity, and safety certification. Overall, EI should not be interpreted as a mature replacement for current utility practice; it is a developing technological direction whose safe deployment will require field validation, standardized evaluation, cybersecurity assurance, and continued human supervisory authority.