Research to Begin on Pothole-Fixing Drones

A drone that can inspect roads and repair potholes autonomously is one of the goals of a recent university grant awarded with the vision of creating self-repairing cities.

The University of Leeds in the United Kingdom received a $6.5 million grant to lead a national infrastructure research project that will also look into robots that can perch like birds to perform streetlight maintenance and pipeline repair bots.

“We want to make Leeds the first city in the world to have zero disruption from street works,” Phil Purnell, a professor in the university’s school of engineering, said in a statement.

“We can support infrastructure which can be entirely maintained by robots and make the disruption caused by the constant digging up the road in our cities a thing of the past,” Purnell said.

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The school said it will work with Leeds City Council and the UK Collaboration for Research in Infrastructure and Cities to make sure the robots are “thoroughly tested before being trialed in a safe and responsible manner in Leeds.”

“Detecting faults and weaknesses early and then quickly performing smart repairs is the key,” Rob Richardson, director of the National Facility for Innovative Robotic Systems at the University of Leeds, said in a statement.

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“Our robots will undertake precision repairs and avoid the need for large construction vehicles in the heart of our cities. We will use the unique capabilities of our robotic facility to make new, more capable, robots,” Richardson said.

The project is part of $32 million in funding for “engineering grand challenges” by the country’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.