Imperial drone wins award
Aeronautics produce prototype that finds pipeline faults
A PhD student from Imperial has led a team from the Aerial Robotics Lab to victory in a competition to find ‘Drones for Good’ in Dubai.
Talib Alhinai’s winning entry is a prototype that can detect faults in pipelines and then deposit a liquid polyurethane foam to seal them. The foam is lightweight and can expand up to 25 times its original size after being applied to damaged pipes. Leaks from pipelines cause all sorts of problems throughout the world, with as much of 25% of drinking water being lost due to leaks. Dubai loses about 10% of its water in this way, so the judges took a particular interest in this entry.
The competition involved national and international awards, with Imperial’s ‘Buildrone’ taking the national prize. The Imperial winners were personally congratulated by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The prize was a million Arab Emirates Dirhams, or about £190,000. They say they’ll be channeling this money back into the project, in an effort to make it more user friendly.
