Industrial pipe systems are inaccessible and narrow. The pipes
can be vertical and have junctions. Just as challenging, leakage
points in the water system must be located, the condition of oil
and gas pipelines must be checked and ventilation systems need
to be cleaned. In the main, today’s robots are not that clever.
They cannot climb or navigate in vertical pipes – and very few
have active joints. Cybernetics and optical measurement
scientists at SINTEF are working on a solution. Navigation by
light and image With experience and knowledge acquired with
snake robots Anna Konda and AiKo as a starting point, a team is
now developing an intelligent pipe inspection robot on wheels
that will be able to climb, navigate intersections and at any
given time know its location in the pipe system. The inspection
robot will be able to move in pipes of various diameters, right
down to 20 cm. Cybernetics scientists are developing the
propulsion system while a team of optics scientists is working
on the new robot’s visual s