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Robots to Crawl Under the City

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the dreaming-of-electric-sheep dept.

Johan Louwers writes "Robots will crawl tubes in a short while to investigate power cables running in the tubes to make sure they are still undamaged or in need for a repair. The Robotic Cable Inspection System is developed by Alexander Mamishev, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington. Making use of infrared thermal analysis and acoustic partial discharge analysis, the robot will be checking mile after mile of cable while crawling his way in the tubes."

15 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Now we know by snarkth · · Score: 5, Funny

    How the Sentinels got their start.

      snarkth

  2. Someone has to say it by Dachannien · · Score: 3, Funny

    I, for one, welcome our new robotic underlords.

    1. Re:Someone has to say it by beckerist · · Score: 3, Funny

      THIS IS NOT FUNNY! And no, no one has to say it. This site is perpetually headed waaaaaay downhill, and has never been one for humor (at least humor of the current decade...)

    2. Re:Someone has to say it by beckerist · · Score: 3, Funny

      and no, I DON'T need to go AC to say this.

  3. Damn... by Dunbal · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now where are we humans going to hide when Skynet becomes active?

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  4. Identifiers? by Grey_14 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I would hope they would make them easy to identify and track, Imagine stumbling upon some weird robotic beasty that washed out of a storm drain and thinking it's the beginning of the robot revolution or something, Maybe they could just write "NOT EVIL" in magic marker or something, that would make ME feel better.

    1. Re:Identifiers? by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 4, Funny

      Add an "I'm feeling lucky" button to really top off its "none-evilness".

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    2. Re:Identifiers? by Kadin2048 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Maybe they could just write "NOT EVIL" in magic marker or something, that would make ME feel better.

      How about "Don't Panic" in nice, friendly letters?

      --
      "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  5. Horror by SinGunner · · Score: 4, Funny
    This sounds like a bad horror-movie plot. Next they'll start coming up from the ground in some old people's home and killing everyone, and then the police get called in to investigate, but they just can't tell what the hell happened. Then more isolated incidents start to occur which leads the main character and his expendable co-stars into the dark abandoned subway tunnels to search for this menace from the underneath!

    The final scene involves a huge explosion or EMP burst that destroys all the robots but also leaves everyone in the sewer in complete darkness. Cut, print, that's a wrap. Where's my money?

  6. Robots good at checking pipes by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 4, Informative

    The SMART PIG is used to check on gas pipes. It saves a fortune on using the old, dumb pigs that they used to have to force through the pipes to inspect/clean them prior to the invention of Magnetic Flux Leakage techniques.

    There is a pretty good SMART PIG display at the Manchester Sci/Tech museum (free) with an actual 80's vintage inspection unit donated by British Gas.

    --
    Beep beep.
  7. The Cousins of the Sewer Robots by MightyMait · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here in Santa Cruz, we're currently using robots to inspect our sewers. My buddy made a TV show (on Community TV--like Public Access) of the raw footage from the sewer robot set to soothing music. Must-see TV!!

    --
    Nothing interesting to say...MUST...NOT...REPLY...ohtheheckwithit.
  8. *sigh* by joe_cot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm not a paid member; can someone please tag this story "ReallyBadInternetJokeBait"?

  9. Only the beginning by SmlFreshwaterBuffalo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Great, how long before they start using similar robots to check your prostate?

    (Ha! You thought this was going to be another reference to The Matrix/Terminator, didn't you?)

  10. What'd be really neat... by fussili · · Score: 3, Insightful

    is if they leeched power from the cables at open nodes in the system and just roamed on a set path at all times.

    Autonomous little service droids, keeping everything working - now that's the future.

  11. Re:Will this work in the real world? by jcurran · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've seen underground power cables in the Boston area, and at least in the ones I saw, there was no tray, just lots of serious support ironwork. Additionallly, there was no nice clean lit walkway on the side as in the video. The problem that I see is that the places that its hardest to visually inspect are just the circumstances that these robots would be handiest, and that's exactly the circumstances that they'll have the most problems navigating.