Help us specify and design an autonomous robot that will live in the sewers alerting us to debris build up before it becomes a blockage.
Our project team for this 4 day sprint taking place at Newcastle Racecourse, includes robotic and autonomy experts but we want to develop a solution that can be adopted in any sewer, handling foul, surface or combined wastewater.
We need people with knowledge of the sewers, blockages, sewer CCTV and those dealing with the aftermath of sewer flooding. We are also keen to attract delegates from local authorities, education and other related industries.
There are over 40,000 incidents of internal and external sewer flooding in the UK every year which cause devastating damage to our customers properties . . . and a high proportion of these are as a result of blockages in sewer pipes.
Current approaches using smart networks are reactive, based on detecting rising water levels in sewers to estimate where blockages might be, but since the water is already rising it is often too late to allow maintenance teams to locate and clear the blockage before flooding occurs.
If we could find a way to proactively detect build-up before it becomes a blockage, we could eradicate spills and sewer flooding and its devastating impact on our customers. This is what Pipe Bot patrol aims to do.