Run by Ofwat and Challenge Works and supported by Arup and Isle Utilities, the Water Breakthrough Challenge aims to encourage initiatives that help to tackle the biggest challenges facing the water sector, such as achieving net zero, protecting natural ecosystems and reducing leakage, as well as delivering value to society.
Pipebots aims to revolutionise buried pipe infrastructure management with the development of micro-robots designed to work in underground pipe networks and dangerous sites and was awarded £9m in the challenge.
Working with partners, Pipebots is involved in three exciting initiatives:
No dig leak repair looks at repairing hidden leaks sustainably, developing technology to repair leaks from within live water mains, without disruptive excavations and with minimal interruptions to water supplies.
The Pipebots for rising mains 2 initiative builds on work successfully completed through previous rounds of the Water Breakthrough Challenge. The project will develop technology for condition assessment inspections in live sewer rising mains to enable rehabilitation works to be planned and prioritised, reducing the risk of failure leading to pollution.
Pipebot Patrol will develop an autonomous sewer robot that lives in the sewer, constantly inspecting and raising alerts to the precise location of blockages, as they are beginning to form. This proactive approach allows maintenance teams enough time to react before sewer flooding occurs, keeping sewage where it belongs.
Professor Kirill Horoshenkov, Principle Investigator, said: “This funding is essential to take the science and technology developed under the EPSRC Programme Grant Pervasive Sensing for Buried Pipes to a much higher technology readiness level. The work funded by Ofwat Innovation Fund will enable us to win full support from the water industry to let autonomous robots be deployed in live clean and wastewater pipes on an unprecedented scale. For the UK’s water industry it means a radical change from reactive to proactive maintenance of their 1M km of buried pipes and significant reduction in service failures. For the University of Sheffield it means that this fundamental research will become non-academic impact."