These tiny AI-powered robots can prevent world's water leakage problem
What's the story
Billions of liters of water are wasted daily due to leakage in pipes.
To prevent this, scientists at the University of Sheffield's Integrated Civil and Infrastructure Research Centre (ICAIR), have developed miniature robots, called Pipebots.
These robots will use artificial intelligence (AI) to patrol the pipe network, check whether there are any faults, and also safeguard them from leakage.
Context
Why does this story matter?
In the UK, roughly three billion liters of water are wasted daily due to underground pipe leakage.
These pipe networks require high maintenance and in most cases finding the source of the leak is difficult without digging around. This is where Pipebots come into play.
Using robots to find leakage will make work easier and will also save the environment.
Mechanism
What are pipebots and how do they work?
Pipebots are toy car-sized mobile robots with cameras and all-terrain legs. They can patrol pipes and discover cracks.
Describing their working mechanism, professor Kirill Horoshenkov, a member of the project said, "They move along the pipe, taking pictures and they have a microphone to listen to the pipe. They're designed to make decisions about whether the pipe might develop a fault or not."
Steps
How will pipebots be deployed?
Professor Netta Cohen from the University of Leeds said that she and her team were developing a system, in which a larger "mother" robot would carry and deploy a group of miniature robots into small pipes.
These Pipebots would communicate with each other using sound or Wi-Fi since GPS would be unavailable underground.
Once their work will be finished, the "mother" would collect them.
Information
When will they be used?
Though a definite timeline is not available right now, scientists at ICAIR believe that Pipebots will start patrolling the water network in the UK within the next five years. These will surely aid in reducing the wastage of water .