Unlike some of the last consumer drones, which fly almost independently, Asio X mainly requires manual control, and in certain very ruthless places, as Astorino points out: “Its air flow can quickly change in a confined space and manage a flight path above the water flowing in a limited pipe is difficult.” Consequently, he leaves the flight to experts: “Our main operator, Captain Zach, is capable of flying in very delicate environments.”
That said, the inspection process itself is simple. “An antenna is lowered into the man's hole to provide a signal force of the drone controller to the drone,” Astorino told Wired. “The operator will pilot the drone from one human hole to another, recording the video through this flight trajectory.” With around 20 minutes of battery life, the Asio X can document around 1,000 feet of hose in one flight, capturing not only video but also LIDAR and infrared analyzes and gas readings when it goes through a sewer section.
As part of the old system, the video data would be analyzed in the field, with the operating defects of the camera operator when sailing in the pipes. From now on, the data captured by Drone is sent to the entrepreneurs of Sewerai, who direct them in their algorithms assisted by the AI to automatically identify the faults. Astorino tells me that it changes the game, saving his team a lot of time and money.
“We carried out months of testing against videos coded on the ground of various entrepreneurs against what Sewerai was able to do with the same images, and each time Sewerai excelled in what he could find and code properly.” Previously, inspecting a sewer pipe section can take months, but will have an agreement to return data analysis in the county within 10 days; Astorino says he usually does it within 24 hours.
The team was so impressed by the software that even in areas where the drone cannot go and more traditional inspection methods are necessary – pipes of diameter and for example – the resulting data is now sent for analysis rather than being coded on the ground. Old data can also be examined quickly and reanalyzed, picking up defects that original entrepreneurs may have failed at the time. This means that repair work can be done where it is most necessary, preventing the type of aggravation conditions which can lead to disastrous and costly incidents like the 2016 abyss.
The county of Macomb was a pioneer in this area. It is the first county of Michigan to use this combination of Drones and IA software for the inspection of underground infrastructure and won two awards in the state as a result of its thinking before. But Vince Astorino tells me that he and his team are always looking for new ways to modernize operations. “It is difficult to count greatly in the technology around this space, in particular with the great race of AI which takes place all around us. We keep our options open.”
