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How smarter sensing can help utilities understand pipe condition before failures happen For water utilities, one of the hardest maintenance challenges is that many problems remain hidden until they become serious. A pipe may look fine from the outside while deterioration is already developing within the wall. By the time a leak appears at the […]

What Water Utilities Really Need from Pipe Inspection Innovation As TUBERS moves forward, discussions with water company representatives continue to provide valuable insight into what utilities are really looking for from next-generation inspection and repair technologies. A key takeaway from a recent exchange was that, for water utilities, the true value of innovation lies not

How flexible robotic systems could help make water network maintenance more targeted, less disruptive, and more efficient Water utilities are under growing pressure to maintain aging infrastructure while reducing costs, avoiding unnecessary disruption, and improving long-term network resilience. That is not an easy balance to achieve. Traditional maintenance and repair methods often require excavation, operational

Why the future of water infrastructure is not just about detecting leaks, but enabling better operational and investment decisions Water utilities are under pressure from every direction: aging infrastructure, rising operating costs, tighter environmental expectations, and growing demands for resilience. Over the past decade, the sector has made major progress in network digitalisation, from smart

SWAG and TUBERS underline the expanding reach of soft robotics Soft robotics is increasingly proving that its potential goes far beyond a single field of application. Across Europe, new research is showing how soft, adaptive robotic systems can respond to very different challenges ; from supporting human movement to inspecting and repairing critical infrastructure. Two

Powering Pipeline Autonomy: Demcon’s Tether Solution for the TUBERS Robot. Imagine if you could prevent water loss autonomously! That is the vision of the European TUBERS project. For this project we’ve developed a snake-like resident robot designed to combat water loss from within. This autonomous robot navigates water pipelines, detecting and reporting leaks in real

The TUBERS snake-like robot for continuous inspection of drinking water distribution networks 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

Challenges and Innovations in the Water Industry From March to May 2024, our TUBERS consortium attended different conferences in the water industry, from WWT Innovation and Smart Water Conference to Journées économiques France-Maroc: l’eau, enjeux et perspectives and the Utility Week Congress. There, our Joel van den Bosch from our partner Alsymex, attending the above events, seized the opportunity to meet with