Smart, cheap ‘Joey’ robot could soon help clear blockages in important underground pipelines

Beneath our streets is a maze of pipes, pipes for water, sewage and gas. Regular inspection of these pipes for leaks or regular repairs requires them to be dug up. The latter is not only burdensome and expensive – with an estimated annual cost of £5.5 billion in the UK alone – but also causes traffic disruption as well as a nuisance to those living nearby. not to mention the damage to the environment.

Now imagine a robot can find the way through the narrowest place pipeline network and relay images of damage or obstacles to the operator. This is no longer a pipe dream, reveals a new study in Borders in Robotics and AI by a team of researchers from the University of Leeds.

Dr. Netta Cohen, professor at the University of Leeds and finalist, said: “Here we introduce Joey—a new miniature robot—and show that Joeys can explore pipeline networks on his own. really completely without a camera to navigate.” research author.

Joey was the first person to be able to move himself through a maze of pipes as narrow as 7.5 cm. Weighing only 70g, it’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

pipebot project

The current work is part of the “Pipebots” project by the universities of Sheffield, Bristol, Birmingham and Leeds, in collaboration with UK utility companies and other international academic and industry partners. .

First author, Dr Thanh Luan Nguyen, a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Leeds who developed the Joey control algorithm (or “brain”), said: “Groundwater and sewer networks It’s one of the least friendly environments, not only for humans but also for robots. Sat Nav can’t be accessed underground. And Joeys is very small, so it has to work with engines. , the sensor and the computer are simple, taking up little space, while the small battery must be able to last long enough.”

Joey moves on 3D-printed “wheelbases” that roll over straight sections of the road and over small obstacles. It is equipped with a range of energy-saving sensors to measure its distance from walls, intersections and corners, navigation tools, microphone, camera and searchlight to record faults. in the pipeline network and save the image. The prototype cost only £300 to produce.

Mud and slippery slopes

The team showed that Joey could find his way without any instructions from the operator, through a network of test pipelines that included junctions, left and right corners, dead ends, obstacles and three straight lines. On average, Joey discovered about a meter of a network of pipes in just over 45 seconds.

To make life more difficult for the robot, the researchers verified that it can easily move up and down inclined pipes with realistic gradients. And to test Joey’s ability to move through muddy or slippery tubes, they also added sand and gooey gel (actually dishwashing liquid) to the pipes — again with success.

Crucially, the sensors are enough to allow Joey to navigate without turning on the camera or using power-hungry computer vision. This saves energy and extends Joey’s current the battery life. Whenever the battery is low, Joey will return to its starting point to “recharge” energy.

Currently, Joeys have a weak point: they can’t get up on their own if they accidentally turn their backs, like upside down turtles. The authors suggest that the next prototype should be able to overcome this challenge. Future generations of Joey must also be waterproof, to operate underwater in pipes filled with liquid.

Joey’s future is collaboration

Pipebots scientists set out to develop a swarm of Joeys that could communicate and work together, based on a larger “mother” robot named Kanga. Kanga, currently being developed and tested by several similar authors at the Leeds School of Computing, will be more sophisticated Sensor and repair tools like robotic arms and carry multiple Joeys.

“Ultimately, we hope to design a system that can check and map the health of a vast network of pipelines, track pipelines over time, and even perform a number of maintenance and repair tasks”.

“We envision the technology to scale and diversify, creating an ecosystem of multiple species of robots that collaborate underground. In this scenario, teams of Joeys will be deployed by larger robots have more power and capabilities but are limited in larger pipelines.To solve this challenge will require more research, development and testing within 10 to 20 years. It could start operating around 2040 or 2050.”