The environment is one of the strong themes of CES 2023, the Las Vegas electronics show.
Avwa is fully in line with this logic, with its robot dedicated to the detection and prevention of water leaks in buried pipes.
In France, 20% of drinking water is lost due to leaks in these pipes.
These leaks are sometimes undetectable and often complicated to treat and repair.
A situation that is difficult to accept when the issue of water management is more predominant than ever.
The Acwa robot travels the pipes to map them and check their condition, in order to plan interventions.
It acts autonomously, without contact with the outside, and stops at regular intervals - their frequency depends on the operator's request - to take pictures of its environment.
It also measures the thickness of the pipe, detects traces of corrosion thanks to its various sensors, the emission of ultrasound or even the emission of eddy current.
It is the photos and the measured data which, after analysis, will make it possible to detect any leaks, faults... or illegal connections, which are more frequent than you might think - especially in Italy in rural areas!
The measures taken make it possible to confirm the mapping of the networks and possibly to schedule a renewal.
“
The budgets of local authorities and water network managers are increasingly constrained.
The summaries that we provide are decision-making aids to optimize the programming of interventions
,” explains Jean-François Guiderdoni, co-founder of Acwa.
However, the cost of renewing a buried pipeline varies between 150,000 and 800,000 euros per kilometre.
Hence the importance of targeting interventions as well as possible.
A factory project
The company's objective is to market the services of its robots by the end of 2023. Before that, Acwa will carry out real-world missions from the start of the year to validate its robot.
A first test mission was carried out in Bastia, "
with very positive feedback, precise mapping elements and high-definition images from inside the pipeline
", specifies Jean-François Guiderdoni.
The robot has thus identified joint pinching and poorly made pipe fittings.
Acwa aims to build a factory between Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, with other robotics players to quickly ramp up.