Soryu-C snake robot utilized for inspection of underground heating district facilities in Italy
(Tokyo, August 04, 2023) Hibot’s Soryu-C snake robot started to be used for the inspection of underground heating district facilities in Italy. The operator of such heating district facilities, A2A, used Soryu-C in the northern city of Brescia to inspect underground steam pipes in several locations.
Soryu-C was developed for the inspection of underground piping facilities and other types of infrastructure that are difficult to reach. The robot is connected to a semi-automatic reel unit by a tether and can be deployed through narrow access points to reach underground piping facilities. Soryu-C is equipped with multiple cameras, used for navigation, inspection and mapping. As a mobile platform, it can also be expanded with additional sensors/devices that increase its applications.
Underground pipes are notoriously difficult to inspect because of the need to dig holes in the streets and access them from above. With Soryu-C, A2A was able to reach underground pipes from conventional manholes, without causing any disturbance to the traffic in the street level, and saving weeks of work normally associated with digging holes, inspecting pipes, closing the holes and remaking the pavement of the street.
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A2A is a company that generates, distributes, and markets renewable energy, electricity, gas, integrated water supply, and waste management services in Italy and Greece. Their network of underground pipes of the heating districts are enclosed in narrow spaces and distributed over several km under the cities. Maintenance of such pipes has always been hampered by high costs and scheduling constraints to block street traffic and interrupt the heating services.
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By using Soryu-C, A2A has opened the possibility to efficiently carry out inspection of underground heating infrastructure and also to support the industry decarbonization efforts. Soryu-C, with its flexible design, excels in the inspection of infrastructures that are buried or difficult and dangerous for people to access.
Hibot, operating from its headquarters in Tokyo and now also from its new office in Europe (hibot Europe GmbH), will increase its efforts to make the world a safer place with robotics, expanding the supply of its services with this and other robotic solutions.
A2A News Release
This operation is also issued in A2A's news release.
Contact:
Takeyuki Iijima, Takuya Takenokuchi
Telephone: +81 (0)3 5791 7526
E-mail: press@hibot.co.jp