Science & Technology

Cities may soon be able to repair themselves

By T.K. Randall
October 21, 2015 ·  9 comments

Can automated robots take over city maintenance ? Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Dan DeLuca Scientists at the University of Leeds will be looking in to the development of new technologies that could one day make it possible for even the largest cities to run almost by themselves.

The research will be focusing on three key areas with the first, which is called 'Perch and Repair', dedicated to designing a new type of drone that can perch on streetlights and conduct repairs.

The second area, known as 'Perceive and Patch', will involve another type of drone that can automatically inspect, diagnose and repair potholes and other issues with a city's roads.Similarly, the third area of the project, which is called 'Fire and Forget', will be looking at ways to automate the process of inspecting and repairing a city's utility pipes.

"We want to make Leeds the first city in the world to have zero disruption from street works," said Professor Phil Purnell who is heading up the research team.

"We can support infrastructure which can be entirely maintained by robots and make the disruption caused by the constant digging up the road in our cities a thing of the past."

Source: New Civil Engineer | Comments (9)

Tags: City, Maintenance, Drones