Societal Challenge

Drinking water companies will have to replace and repair a large portion of their distribution networks in the coming decennia due to ageing and degradation of pipes. To take on this task cost-efficiently, it is important to form a clear picture of the current state of every pipe.

The use of the Tubers snake-like robot will greatly increase the information that these asset management decisions rely on. This means that the right pipe will be replaced at the right time (preventing premature replacement, which is the destruction of capital, and overdue replacement, which can lead to costly malfunctions). In situ localisation of leakages and other emergencies will provide information on immediate problems in the network.

Product Innovation

Since 2017, Demcon high-tech systems has been developing the snake-like robot system. This system allows drinking water companies to move from ‘risk-based’ maintenance to ‘condition-based’ maintenance; numbers tell the tale!

The snake-like robot system consists of:

• autonomously operating snake-like robots that navigate and inspect inside the network 24/7. Equipped with various sensors, they gather information on pipe condition, exact pipe location, water condition and network defects.
• an infrastructure of base stations used to collect navigation and inspection data from the robots, charge the robots wirelessly and provide the robots with inspection routes.
• and mission planner software that provides an interface for the asset manager to collect data and direct the inspections.

The autonomy of the robots makes this solution a groundbreaking and innovative concept.

The TUBERS Ecosystem

Within the TUBERS ecosystem, other products have been developed to form a complete asset management package. The autonomous inspection capabilities of the snake-like robot system are combined with novel ultrasound sensor technology to detect leaks, AI-driven decision support software to process all collected data and a robotic platform to repair leaks cost-efficiently. This ecosystem is developed by the European consortium of Demcon high-tech systems, TWI Hellas, the University of Essex, and Bendabl, . Primary partners in the consortium are three Dutch drinking water companies: Brabant Water, Evides, and Vitens . Together with secondary partners, such as SES Water, South Staff Water, Gruppo Cap, Eau du Grand Lyon and Eau de Paris,Eur Eau and Ofwat, they provide the consortium with valuable information to make sure the TUBERS ecosystem is developed to measure up to the demands of the future.