--- /dev/null
+ MIT GRADUATE CREATES ROBOT THAT SWIMS THROUGH PIPES TO FIND OUT \r
+ IF THEY'RE LEAKING (FASTCOMPANY.COM) \r
+\r
+ Thursday September 06, 2018 @11:30PM (BeauHD)\r
+ from the leak-detecting dept.\r
+\r
+ o News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/18/09/06/2058201/mit-graduate-creates-robot-that-swims-through-pipes-to-find-out-if-theyre-leaking\r
+ o Source link: https://www.fastcompany.com/90232363/this-leak-seeking-robot-just-won-the-u-s-james-dyson-award\r
+\r
+\r
+ A 28-year-old MIT graduate named You Wu spent six years\r
+ developing a low-cost robot designed to find leaks in pipes\r
+ early, both to save water and to avoid bigger damage later\r
+ from bursting water mains. "Called Lighthouse, the robot looks\r
+ like a badminton birdie," reports Fast Company. "A soft\r
+ 'skirt' on the device is covered with sensors. As it travels\r
+ through pipes, propelled by the flowing water, suction tugs at\r
+ the device when there's a leak, and it records the location,\r
+ making a map of critical leaks to fix." From the report: MIT\r
+ doctoral student You Wu spent six years developing the design,\r
+ building on research that earlier students began under a\r
+ project sponsored by a university in Saudi Arabia, where most\r
+ drinking water comes from expensive desalination plants and\r
+ around a third of it is lost to leaks. It took three years\r
+ before he had a working prototype. Then Wu got inspiration\r
+ from an unexpected source: At a party with his partner, he\r
+ accidentally stepped on her dress. She noticed immediately,\r
+ unsurprisingly, and Wu realized that he could use a similar\r
+ skirt-like design on a robot so that the robot could detect\r
+ subtle tugs from the suction at each leak. Wu graduated from\r
+ MIT in June, and is now launching the technology through a\r
+ startup called WatchTower Robotics. The company will soon\r
+ begin pilots in Australia and in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One\r
+ challenge now, he says, is creating a guide so water companies\r
+ can use the device on their own.\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** What we are not told ... (Score:1)\r
+ (by Alain Williams ( 2972 ))\r
+\r
+ \r
+ is he still with his partner who's dress he trod on ?\r
+\r
+ ** pig (Score:1, Informative)\r
+ (by Anonymous Coward)\r
+\r
+ \r
+ Congratulations, you reinvented the pig.\r
+ [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigging\r
+\r
+ ** \r
+\r
+ ** Re: (Score:2)\r
+ (by An Ominous Coward ( 13324 ))\r
+\r
+ \r
+ Ridiculous, how dare you plebeians libel our foremost\r
+ technology elite. It's MIT, of course what they're doing is\r
+ utterly novel and deserving of fawning media coverage.\r
+ (\r
+ [1]https://puretechltd.com/technology/purerobotics-pipeline-i-\r
+ nspection-system/ [puretechltd.com])\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1]\r
+ https://puretechltd.com/technology/purerobotics-pipeline-insp-\r
+ ection-system/\r
+\r
+\r
+ ** They tried that robot in Montreal... (Score:2)\r
+ (by ls671 ( 1122017 ))\r
+\r
+ \r
+ I hear they tried that robot in Montreal and it crashed due to\r
+ memory exhaustion.\r
+ Montreal is one of the oldest city in North America and there\r
+ are so many leaks in its water system that it loses 30% of its\r
+ fresh water supply.\r
+ Makes you wonder what is the average water loss in other systems.\r
+ [1]https://montrealgazette.com/ne... [montrealgazette.com]\r
+ [2]https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada... [www.cbc.ca]\r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ \r
+ [1]\r
+ https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/by-the-numbers-30-pe-\r
+ rcent-of-montreals-water-is-lost-due-to-leaky-city-pipes\r
+ [2]\r
+ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/city-water-leaks-wasting-millions-\r
+ of-tax-dollars-1.1048035\r
+\r
+ ** Badminton Birdie? (Score:2)\r
+ (by TechyImmigrant ( 175943 ))\r
+\r
+ \r
+ It's called a shuttlecock you blithering idiot.\r
+\r
+\r
git://git.nikiroo.be / gofetch.git / blobdiff