The Three-Ds of robotics are "Dirty, Dangerous and Dull," meaning if something falls into these categories, it is typically a great application for robotics. Sewer infrastructure is obviously dirty, very dangerous and repeatedly dull, t hus creating a perfect application for advanced robotics. In the case of a particular deep sewer tunnel in a major city sewer authority, a "Fourth-D" of robotics applies, "Difficult." When the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) needed to inspect its deep tunnel system, difficult challenges were ahead in order to inspect the entire system. The ALCOSAN deep tunnel system (DTS) is a gravity sewer; however, during normal operations it runs in a constant surcharged state. The access shafts are exceptionally deep, some more than 100 ft spanning over two miles between some access shafts. To put that in perspective, that's the equivalent of more than 43 football fields end to end. ALCOSAN, located in Pittsburgh, services 83 separate municipalities with a combined population of approximately 840,000 residents with plant treatment capability up to 250 MGD. The primary conveyance is through the 30 miles of the deep tunnel system that ALCOSAN operates. ALCOSAN is currently under a United States EPA mandated consent decree to reduce combined sewer overflows (CSOs) by 7 billion gallons by 2036. To reach this goal, the Authority will spend approximately $2 billion. Part of the consent decree is to better understand the conditions of the deep tunnel system.
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