Friday, January 06, 2006

Giant Robot Worm Lurks Under NYC Streets


The Welding and Inspection Steam Operations Robot (WISOR) was developed for Con Edison of New York by Honeybee Robotics as a semi-automated means of maintaining subterranean steam pipes. While tethered to the surface for power and fiber optic visuals, WISOR uses an inch-worming motion for mobility through straight pipes where it mills and welds flanges. It is equipped with five cameras for inspecting damage and repairs, a milling device, and a MIG class welder that can rotate a full 360 degrees.
It will enter a steam pipe, inch-worm its way to a flange, mill in preparation for resealing, and then perform a structural weld to seal the flange.

The 800 lb. WISOR is a semi-autonomous system with a 200-foot umbilical cable that connects it to a control center in its truck, which allows engineers to see where WISOR is going and what it mills and welds. WISOR is currently undergoing testing and debugging with an anticipated delivery to Con Edison in late 2006.

Gothamist: WISOR for Official New York State Robot!

You can also buy the video at Amazon

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is that what they use to get all the alligators out of the sewers?

2:42 PM, January 07, 2006  
Blogger Prospector said...

Turns out their nt really alligators at all. Their subterranean robots!

4:19 PM, January 10, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

what is robot?

1:04 PM, January 14, 2006  
Blogger Eric K Tapp said...

There is a cool picture of the Korean police android at:http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/gadgets/comment.blog?a=render&entry_id=1390879

9:02 AM, January 22, 2006  
Blogger Prospector said...

That's not actually a Korean police robot shown in the Wired post.

It is a fictional robot from a short film. It is very cool.

See the short movie here:
http://analogik.com/mm_rev_tetra.asp

10:19 AM, January 22, 2006  

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