National Engineers’ Group Calls Arlington’s Sewer-Inspecting Robot a ‘Game Changer’
The American Society of Civil Engineers has recognized a new Arlington project to examine sanitary sewer lines with the help of a multi-sensor robot as one of 15 Infrastructure Game Changers. The designation highlights trend-setting projects nationwide that address pressing infrastructure needs.
The robot evaluations are being made possible by a partnership between Arlington Water Utilities and the University of Texas at Arlington. The city expects to save millions of dollars in unnecessary pipe replacements by spotting problems before they happen in sanitary sewer mains as large as 66 inches. The robot, called an MSI HD Profiler, gathers information from inside pipes by using a high-definition camera, lasers and sonar.
Click here to read more about the sewer-inspecting robot.
Researchers in the Civil Engineering Department at UT Arlington will interpret the robot-gathered data and give the city estimates about the anticipated lifetimes of pipes. The university will also take samples of pipe trouble spots and analyze them in a lab to validate their findings from the data. Arlington hopes to examine about 48 miles of its most critical sanitary sewer mains within three years.
'These Game Changers demonstrate just some of the ways civil engineers are using innovative technologies and creative thinking to serve our communities and solve the United States "significant infrastructure challenges," said Mark W. Woodson, president of ASCE. "When we combine political will and investment with engineering ingenuity, we can make real, long-lasting improvements to our infrastructure and our daily lives."
The Game Changers program was developed by ASCE's Committee on America's Infrastructure, a group of experienced engineers from across the U.S.
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