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This tiny robot can solve a big problem. And while it looks cute enough, the problem is deadly serious. And it is happening right now under your feet. Outdated sewer networks Most of our sewage systems are decades old. So existing systems are under more pressure and are more likely to fail. As populations grow and weather patterns change, aging sewage systems around the world are struggling to cope. We hope everything works out, right? Until it stops. And this "until it stops" happens very suddenly. E. coli levels in the Potomac River remain dangerously high after a partial collapse of the sewer system. But finding and fixing every malfunction or
leak in the sewer system is not just difficult, it's impossible for humans. There is no harsher environment than sewage. The system is so large that it is very difficult to reach. And in some spaces you would n't even be able to crawl through. And this is where this little robot can make a significant difference If you can't send a person somewhere, the only thing left is to send machines., an EU-funded project aiming to create autonomous robots to inspect and protect sewage systems. Engineers from all over the world come to this facility in Sheffield to test sensors for sewer and water pipes. And the team behind me came
from all over Europe to work on the Pipe-on project. On that monitor behind me, you see a live feed from a robot inside this sewer pipe. And they gathered here to test their systems without getting their We have sewer pipes under our feet, we can let them flow and create realistic conditions for testing. And beneath our feet, everything goes down 5 meters to the bottom of the reservoir, which is now filled with sand. The project received a $9 million grant from the EU. And if this figure seems large for such a small robot, it is nothing compared to the cost of a failed sewer network. In January 2026, a section of a sewer line near Washington, D.C. collapsed after being
repeatedly reported to be in poor condition. More than 240 million gallons of untreated sewage poured into the Potomac River, possibly up to 300 million in total likely the largest smells like a huge toilet in here. This smell makes my eyes water. What impact do such things have on the ecology, on the people who live there? Certainly, a very serious impact on the environment. And, you know, there's a significant impact on public health as well. You release feces with bacteria, pathogens, viruses. If people come into contact with them, there is a chance that they will also get sick. But while the Washington case made headlines, smaller sewage leaks happen all the time. The EPA estimates that
up to 75,000 such incidents occur in the US each year polluting rivers, flooding streets and threatening public health. Sewer networks have existed for centuries. They are under increasing pressure. So, the population is larger than when the sewer system was built. Our precipitation patterns are changing. We are building much more. People need more houses, more roads, bigger parking lots, more supermarkets. There will be many, many more problematic situations with sewage in the coming years. This is partly because some utilities do not have an accurate map of their own networks. So even when they know which area is leaking, finding a place to dig is a challenge.
Currently only around 1-2% of the sewer network is inspected annually, meaning it would take you 50 or 100 years to screen the entire municipality of Sheffield, for example. This mapping is currently done by hand-operated wire robots equipped with cameras and lights, but they are quite slow. The plan is for the Pipebots to operate in the sewers autonomously, perhaps even permanently. And while sending a robot through pipes may seem like a simple thing, it's not at all These pipes shift when the ground moves. There are sediment blockages that the robot must be able to bypass.
Pipes are what we call a sensory-deficient environment. There is very little information underground. You just keep moving: pipe, pipe, manhole, pipe, pipe, oh, someone threw a diaper in the sewer, pipe, pipe, pipe, manhole. After a while, you don't know where you are anymore. And this means that the team here will have to fit a huge number of engineering solutions into a very small and agile robot. This would include acoustic sensing, which works like echolocation. And using pulsed laser light and measuring the precise time it takes for reflection to build a map of the environment, known as lidar. We have a 3D lidar up here, at the highest point. Then we have a depth camera on the front with two light sources.
We also have a camera here, in the back. Then at the front you can also see the speaker. So we also use acoustic sensing. And we record sounds with this acoustic array on both sides of the robot. The robot has four autonomous wheels. So we have engines inside the wheel wells. They are already waterproof, so we can operate them in a real sewer. A separate team is also working on integrating various robotic arms, which will allow the robot to protect pipes and find damage. In robotics, the most critical phase is always integration, you know? One guy is responsible for the controls, another for the movement, a third for the sensors, and at some point it all has to come together. The biggest
surprise for me was saying, "Oh my God, it works." Right now, all of this technology is in a very early testing stage. The model we saw was controlled by a video game joystick. But the team will have to act quickly. The Pipe Inspector project is funded until 2028, after which they will have to turn to commercial investment. How far do you think you are from making this a reality? I would say that the level of readiness of the technology is quite low at this point. But our current tests show that in 2-3 years we will have robots capable of moving independently from one hatch to another If the team is successful, it will mean
fewer people will have to go down to such places. And believe me, I would n't want to be in a real sewer right now. Our goal is to look 5 years ahead to know exactly where our facilities are and what condition they are in. This way we can tell exactly where to go before a disaster occurs, and in what order the sewer system should be updated. It will be great, and besides, it will not cost more to citizens.
