Underground Utility Tunnel Maintenance Robot System

Underground Utility Tunnel Maintenance Robot System

This technology is an integrated management system that utilizes a rail-based mobile platform to continuously monitor facilities within underground utility tunnels and deploys precision inspection and maintenance robots when hazardous areas are detected.

Existing single-robot systems struggle with precision inspections due to the extensive length of underground utility tunnels and are limited to basic monitoring, making them incapable of performing complex facility maintenance tasks.

This technology deploys continuous inspection robots, precision inspection robots, and fire suppression robots along a rail system. A control server identifies hazardous areas and automates precision scanning and maintenance using specialized tools. Applicable to robotic gripping, precision measurement, and automated equipment, it enables remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, and repairs for power lines, communication cables, and various piping systems, thereby enhancing the efficiency and safety of underground utility tunnel maintenance.

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Key Features:

• A battery control unit that communicates with the continuous inspection robot; when the robot stops at a designated location, the unit opens the battery cover to charge the battery via wired or wireless methods, or replaces the battery by retrieving the depleted one and inserting a pre-charged unit.
• A control server that identifies target areas within the underground utility tunnel where risks are anticipated based on video and environmental sensor data received from the continuous inspection robot, and transmits commands for precision inspection of those target areas.
• An underground utility tunnel maintenance robot system that commands the fire suppression robot located closest to the target area among a pair of fire suppression robots to perform fire extinguishing operations.
• A continuous inspection robot that travels along rails installed on the floor or ceiling, collecting video footage of facilities including lines and pipes, as well as environmental sensor data, and transmitting this information to the control server.

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This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT's AI-based Anti-Drone Active Control Technology Development project.