Sewer inspections require many humans to work in risky and unhealthy conditions. Introducing a robotics solution in this process aims at reducing the labour risks, improving the precision of sewer inspections and optimising sewer cleaning resources of the city, not only in terms of economic expenses but also in terms of water required for the cleaning process and of machinery needed. For ECHORD++ the city of Barcelona has provided its sewer network as use-case and test site.

The aspired robotics solution will be able to determine the state of the sewer in order to identify segments where the sewer’s functionality has been compromised, either by sediments or by structural defects. Other required functionalities of the technology include sewer monitoring and collecting samples of water, air and sediments. Download this PDF to get more information about the technical requirements.

After the first on-site tests in July 2016, two out of the three consortia qualified to continue for another twelve months of funded prototyping. To learn more about the two remaining approaches towards using robots for sewer inspections, click on the boxes below.