We are FCC - Nº3

Within the framework of the Euro- pean Echord++ Project (European Coordination Hub for Open Ro- botics Development), FCC Medio Ambiente and Eurecat participate, jointly with other companies, in the ARSI (Aerial Robot for Sewer Ins- pection) Consortium which is de- veloping an innovative automatic flying micro vehicle (drone) equi- pped with multiple sensors that will expedite, facilitate, and improve the work involved in inspecting the sewers of Barcelona. It introduces in Barcelona an intelligent innova- tive and efficient solution that will be rolled out next year. The sewerage system is one of a city’s main pieces of infrastructure but its inspection requires a large amount of human resources who must work in a confined and dan- gerous environment with unheal- thy conditions. Special safety me- asures are needed to guarantee their safety and minimise the risk of physical and biological hazards, involving a large number of wor- kers, slow operating procedures and very rigorous protection ele- ments. With the design of a multi-rotor flying platform equipped with sen- sors for semi-automatic navigation and data acquisition, the ARSI project solves the difficulties of the FCC participates in a consortium of companies for developing a drone to inspect the sewers of Barcelona in 2018. Drones to inspect Barcelona’s sewers service and provides added value in the following points: • It avoids the need for work teams to enter complicated and potentially dangerous areas. • It reduces direct labour but ge- nerates new jobs which require higher qualifications. • It offers quicker inspections due to its high manoeuvrability and ease of avoiding obstacles and uneven floors. • Its small size allows the inspec- tion of sections less than 1 m wide. • It enhances the collection and handling of data on the sewe- rage system with a holistic approach for integrating the sensors’ results in existing infor- mation platforms. As the head of FCC Medio Am- biente’s Technical Department in Barcelona, Raúl Hernández, ex- plains, “we must be aware that today the provision of a good ser- vice is based on the exhaustive knowledge of the infrastructure in- volved. The increasingly frequent need for all the data on the con- dition of the sewerage system is a demand of councils for which the- re is no answer in the market. The combination of experience with the different organisational capabi- lities to create ARSI is an example of success that we will certainly repeat in the future. Perhaps the most difficult technical challenges were the lack of communications coverage underground and the limited autonomy and mobility in such a difficult environment as the underground sewerage systems.” “The project is now in the advan- ced prototype phase and for FCC this technological solution will provide safety and comfort in the work, very important improve- ments in the productivity rates and cost reductions,” he adds. The Director of the Eurecat Robo- tics Unit, Pepa Sedó, noted that, “this is the first time that the pro- fitability of using drones in an ac- tivity such as sewerage inspection has been analysed” since the an- nual inspection presented various problems due to the uneven terra- in full of obstacles. From her point of view, “the great flexibility and manoeuvrability of drones makes them ideal vehicles for under- ground inspections.” About the consortium This consortium fully covers the value chain including the following partners: FCC Medio Ambiente, an international market leader pro- viding environmental services in urban areas, which has managed the Barcelona sewerage system since 1911, Eurecat, a technolo- gy centre member of Tecnio with experience in autonomous robots for difficult environments, IBAK, a world leader in the creation of ro- bots for sewerage inspection and Simtech Design, a company spe- cialising in flying robots. I N N O V A T I O N I NNOVAT I ON 42