It was a glimpse into the future Friday.
For the first time in its history, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) used a robot for a maintenance check on one of its major water tunnels.
“Spot,” a four-legged robotic dog was doing some of the dirty work in an EBMUD tunnel that’s more than 100 years old. It was a critical task because the tunnel transports water from the upper San Leandro Reservoir to the nearby water treatment plant and into some homes.
East Bay MUD associate engineer Stephanie Matula explained the benefits of using a robot instead of a human from a safety standpoint.
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“You can send a robot to a situation that may not deemed safe for entry with humans. We have other tunnels that are gassy, which is why we are ventilating this tunnel,” she said.
There's also the ability for the robot to catch things that could be overlooked by the human eye.
Wonjun Cha, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley and his team is helping EBMUD implement the new technologies.
“In the tunnel, the lighting is not perfect. So because of a leak, you can have some precipitation, cracks or algae. The camera can tell how much of this damage occurred, compared to previous video inspections,” he said.
For those who are worried about robots replacing humans full time, Matula said she doesn’t anticipate that happening anytime soon.
Instead, depending on the data gathered Friday from Spot, the robot provides another tool for engineers to make sure the utility company’s infrastructure is running smoothly.
“It’ll be a collaborative effort with UC Berkeley, to see what they’re collecting and how the robot worked and how we can use it the next time around,” Matula said.
