Since entering the 21st century, significant progress has been made in pipeline robot research, which is attributed to the government's efforts to guarantee energy consumption by vigorously developing oil and gas pipeline networks. The role of pipeline robot detection and maintenance technology in pipeline construction has become increasingly important.
Pipeline robots can automatically walk inside or outside the pipeline-carrying one or more sensors and operating machinery-and perform a series of pipeline operations under remote control by personnel or computer automatic control. Pipeline robots can easily carry out pipeline inspection, maintenance, and hazard investigation. They are autonomous and have a patented intelligent pipeline inspection system.
Pipeline inspection robots can be applied in three areas: above ground, underground, and underwater. Above ground mainly includes: roads, tunnels, bridges, dangerous places, medical systems, safety protection, ships, aircraft carriers, smart agriculture, etc. Underground mainly includes: pipelines, pipe galleries, civil air defense projects (concealed works), subways, underground warehouses, military use, etc. Underwater (deep water) mainly includes: important water bodies, water tanks, underground pressure water pipes.
Pipeline robot research began in the 1950s and was largely due to the rapid development of automatic control and computer technology. It has gradually entered the fast lane and been put into actual production and application. With the development of many industrialized regions, the demand for inspection and maintenance of oil and gas pipelines has increased day by day. Since entering the 21st century, the emergence of micro-electro-mechanical systems, micro-drives, and material technologies has led to a surge of research interest in small pipeline robots.
In the future, the continuously maturing artificial intelligence technology of pipeline robots will promote the rapid development of intelligent robots. Suitable intelligent control algorithms are key technologies for the research of intelligent robots, and the autonomy of intelligent robots can be significantly improved. The rapidly developing image processing technology also enables further improvement of detection capabilities and makes it applicable to a wider range of scenarios, providing good conditions for its routing planning and pipe inspection operations.
Whether in traditional industries such as natural gas, nuclear facilities, and oil or in the fields of biomedicine and urban water pipelines, the emergence of pipeline robot application scenarios has met the demand for pipeline robots in detection, maintenance, and repair. It has also promoted the rapid development of theoretical research on pipeline robot, and the development potential of pipeline robots in the future is immeasurable.
