The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore earlier this year and the I-95 overpass in Philadelphia last June were not caused by structural defects—the culprits were fires on an out-of-control, powerless ocean-going vessel and oil tanker. But these disasters are the latest example of a problem emerging across the United States: Trillions of dollars worth of critical and fragile bridges, roads, dams, factories, plants and machinery are rapidly aging and in need of repair.
A lot of money is being spent to address these issues, some of it coming from President Biden’s infrastructure bill and other legislation, but the way infrastructure is maintained remains largely unchanged, with much of it being done slowly by humans or in the event of a leak or collapse, etc. Completed after major issues.
Gecko Robotics, ranked No. 42 on the 2024 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, is taking on national challenges using artificial intelligence and robotics, specifically its wall-climbing robots that can perform inspections of infrastructure to not only identify existing issues but also You can try to solve the problem.
“When you think about the built world, a lot of concrete, a lot of metal, especially in the United States, that’s been around for 60 to 70 years; our infrastructure as a country is rated a D, and bringing it up to a B is It’s a $4 trillion to $6 trillion problem. “A big part of it is understanding what to fix and then fixing it in a targeted way, and then also making sure they don’t keep making the same mistakes. “
Loosararian said Gecko Robotics’ technology is already used to monitor “500,000 of the world’s most critical assets,” including oil and gas facilities and pipelines, as well as boilers and storage tanks in manufacturing facilities.
Focus on military hardware, from submarines to aircraft carriers
Gecko robots are increasingly used by the U.S. military. In 2022, the U.S. Air Force awarded Gecko Robotics a contract to help retrofit missile silos. Last year, the U.S. Navy commissioned the company to help modernize the manufacturing process of its Columbia-class nuclear submarine program, using Gecko’s robots for welding inspections.
Gecko Robotics is also working with the Navy to inspect aircraft carriers, which Loosararian demonstrated on CNBC with a demonstration aboard the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned aircraft carrier that now serves as a museum in New York City.
He compared Gecko Robotics’ analysis of infrastructure to human CAT scans, while also creating digital twins of the scanned subjects.
Historically, these inspections were performed by workers collecting thousands of readings aboard the aircraft carrier. Loosararian said Gecko Robotics technology can collect up to 20 million data points in one-tenth of the time.
“It’s human error, and if you’re hanging off the side of a boat, it’s quite dangerous,” he said.
In a world of unpredictable global threats, there are also issues related to the timely construction of military hardware and the readiness of defense assets. For example, Lusarian said that China’s shipbuilding speed is 232 times that of the United States, which is a reflection of China’s current shipbuilding capabilities.
“One-third of our Navy ships are in dry dock right now, and you want them to leave dry dock and not even go into maintenance cycles,” Lussarian said. “We are using lidar and ultrasonic sensors for health. Scan to understand the damage and how to repair it, because what we want to do is get these ships from dry dock to offshore patrol as quickly as possible.”
Digital twins created by Gecko robots can also help build future projects, saving not only time but also resources and capital.
“It’s not just about day-to-day work, it’s about how to build smarter things,” Lussarian said. “If we can understand what’s failing in the real world, then we can figure out how to build in the real world.” Something smarter.
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