Leak-Detecting Robot

As infrastructure continues to deteriorate, it has been estimated that 20 percent of the world’s clean water supply is lost due to leaks. In the United States alone, 240,000 water main leaks waste more than 2 trillion gallons of treated drinking water every year. And in many places, the location of water mains and pipes is not even known.

Current leak detection methods rely on sound detection, but these methods are unreliable in urban areas due to ambient noise levels. Now an MIT graduate has developed a solution that not only detects leaks more reliably; it also generates a map of the system, identifies where the leaks are and how large they are, and calculates the probability of catastrophic failure.

Known as Lighthouse, the robotic device resembles a badminton shuttlecock. The flexible device can travel through pipes without interrupting service while its “hands” touch the pipe, locating leaks by detecting suction forces.

Released in January, Lighthouse has been tested in Virginia, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. Pilot programs are also being conducted in Massachusetts and Australia.