TRICHY: Trichy corporation has started using robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify seepages in drinking water pipelines to reduce damage caused to city roads while replacing damaged pipes. The local body utilised the expertise of a Chennai-based tech startup and conducted trial run with a robot to assess the condition of pipelines and spot damage to take up repair works at exact locations in a short time.
Usually, when there is water seepage from the subsurface pipeline, workers manually dig the roads at multiple spots to identify the source.
Apart from consuming more time this process causes damage to roads and substantial loss of drinking water. The local body says the technology employed by Solinas Integrity, a startup in the water and sanitation industry, provides a comprehensive solution to the problem. Using a robot that can move inside the pipeline, the company pinpoints the location causing seepage. Corrosion and contamination in the pipes are identified through live visual inspection and laser technology.
While conventional methods to fix seepage require digging a 1-km-long road at a minimum of 15 locations, the robot spots the defect by sampling just three locations. Recently, when the robot was deployed to check suspected water contamination in Officers Colony at Puthur, it found a stone blocking the pipeline and gathering silt. “Preventive actions can be initiated based on the inspection using robots to avoid wastage of resources,” S Prabakaran, marketing lead of Solinas, said.
Since the city has underground pipelines that are decades old and develops frequent seepages, Trichy corporation said the technology will help in undertaking maintenance without troubling the public. “Extensive water loss can be avoided too,” an official with corporation said.
