ROBOTS EXPLORE UNDERGROUND PIPES

Major problems facing, particularly, the water and gas industries rela te to the thousands of miles of underground transmission pipes, some o f which are more than 100 years old and in need of replacement or - as the gas industry is now doing - relining with polyethylene. In any ca se, there is the problem of inspection and repair, and the industries are now turning to the aid of robotics, which is already being used in a more conventional way at the Lingley Mere laboratories of North Wes t Water.