A new concrete inspection robot successfully scaled the walls of a dam this summer, testing the dam's structural integrity.
Many of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors are reaching the middle age of their design life, while, according to reports by the American Society of Civil Engineers, many dams have reached the end of their design life. Testing these assets' structural integrity or level of degradation is key to maintaining safety. The robot, called a "crawler bot," is designed to take some of the cost and manual labor out of inspecting concrete assets by automating the process.