CMU Robotics Institute Develops System To Detect And Fix Problems In Gas Pipelines Robotics & Automation News

(MENAFN- Robotics & Automation News) Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute are developing a modular robot that can creep inside natural gas pipelines to map where pipes are, detect decrepit or leaking pipes, and, when necessary, repair the pipe by applying a resin coating along its inner wall.

“We don't even know where all the old pipes are,” says Howie Choset, the Kavčić-Moura Professor of Computer Science, who directs the project in the Biorobotics Lab with research scientist Lu Li.

The confined spaces of pipes, largely inaccessible to people, are a natural place to deploy robots. Over the years, CMU researchers and spinout companies have developed a number of schemes and robots for inspecting sewer, gas distribution and nuclear power plant pipes.

Choset, for example, headed a demonstration project that sent snake-like robots into the pipes of a mothballed nuclear plant.

The latest project, now nearing completion after three years, includes not only robotic inspection of natural gas pipes but also repair via robot.

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