maintenance

As is the case with any type of infrastructure, sewers require regular maintenance. But the often narrow pipes below the ground are difficult to access. Instead of unearthing them at great expense, users of trenchless renovation procedures use specialized robots that carry out the work in the interior of the pipelines. Pipetronics is manufacture of sewer robotics. Markus Lämmerhirt, a member of the management board, talks about the highly specialized industry.

Beneath our streets lies a maze of pipes, conduits for water, sewage, and gas. Regular inspection of these pipes for leaks, or repair, normally requires these to be dug up. The latter is not only onerous and expensive – with an estimated annual cost of £5.5bn in the UK alone – but causes disruption to traffic as well as nuisance to people living nearby, not to mention damage to the environment.

Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation  has executed field trials for shipyard operations at the Naval Base Ventura County. The Company performed field tests on the ground and at height using a suite of Sarcos solutions, including the Guardian DX teleoperated dexterous robot for defense; the Sapien 6M dexterous robot; the Sapien Sea Class underwater robot; and the Guardian S remote visual inspection robot.

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory/DVIDS has released a short video of the Adaptive Radome Diagnostic System (ARDS) – the first use of a collaborative mobile robot in Air Force maintenance depots. 

Heliogen, provider of AI-enabled solar power, completed the first technical demonstration of an autonomous field maintenance system, Heliogen’s Installation & Cleaning Autonomous Robot & Utility Solution, or ICARUS. By bringing the same advanced technologies that enable its AI-enabled concentrated solar power systems to the task of installing and maintaining those systems.