Storm drains can be dangerous places due to hazards such as crumbling concrete ceilings, flooded obstacles, and toxic gas accumulations. The PIPE-i robot was designed with this in mind, as it replaces a human when inspecting such structures.
Developed by New Zealand engineering firm Beca, PIPE-i was developed over a one-year period from June 2022 to June 2023.
Its creation was initiated when the company's structural engineers were tasked with inspecting a severely cracked and deformed culvert under a busy highway. After finding that no commercially available option could adequately inspect the culvert for engineers set out to build their own robots.

Beca
The resulting prototype features a 3D-printed polycarbonate/carbon fiber body, six individual hanging wheels, four 850-lumen LED panels, a pan/tilt forward-facing camera, a LiDAR sensor, and a Leica BLK360 3D scanner, which is protected inside the clamshell rear of the PIPE-i when not needed and then flips up to scan its surroundings when needed.
The current version of the robot is radio-controlled in real time using a live feed from its camera, but it can perform some functions (like proximity sensing) autonomously. Plans call for the eventual commercial model to use AI algorithms for increased autonomy.

Beca
Users to be able to be Check PIPE-i’s video for vent issues while operating the bot, and they can then analyze the 3D point cloud model of the vent created via the onboard browser. The robot can also be equipped with an omnidirectional camera to capture 360-degree video.
As an added bonus, PIPE-i's adjustable suspension allows it to ride high for optimum crawling, but also lower to pass under overhead obstacles.
Beca's Marcus Hall, who led the development of the robot, demonstrates its functions in the video below.
Introducing PIPE-i
Source: Beca