[:en]Robots patrol city pipes to detect defects[:]

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A six-wheeled robot travels underground in Hefei, capital of east China’s Anhui Province, to detect warning signs of defects inside the pipeline network.

The pipeline robot, developed by Wuhan Easy-Sight Technology, is composed of four parts — crawler, camera, cable reel, and controller.

A full charge can enable the robot to work for four to five hours, covering a distance between 800 and 1,000 meters in the underground pipeline.

The robot made its debut last month in Shushan District. It will carry out inspections of the underground pipeline network stretching 150 kilometers.

The real-time data including video images of the pipe will be uploaded and displayed on a computer.

With the rapid development of cities, it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage underground pipelines. Among all the difficulties, detecting flaws in the sewage and rainwater pipelines come first.

Many other cities such as Wuhan, Nanjing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai are using the robots to patrol their pipelines, the robot’s developer said.

Equipped with environmental detection sensors, the robots can monitor temperature and humidity, noxious gases, oxygen levels and smoke density, while providing illumination in real time.

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