Regina-Born Innovation Highlighted in Popular Mechanics

The Regina Pipe Crawler

The Regina Pipe Crawler, developed at the University of Regina with support from Communities of Tomorrow, has gained the notice of Popular Mechanics magazine. The July edition of the magazine included a feature story titled “5 High Tech Fixes for Infrastructure” and touched on innovations from more efficient aircraft wings to earthquake-proofing buildings. On the list of five featured items was the Regina Pipe Crawler, developed by Dr. Mehran Mehrandezh at the University of Regina.

The pipe crawler is a robotic device designed to crawl through underground water pipes, gathering data in real time on breaks and leakage in the pipes. The data is then used by the municipality to schedule preventative maintenance and avoid catastrophic water main breaks.

The crawler was developed after the National Research Council sought the expertise of Dr. Mehrandezh and his graduate student team, and funding was provided by Communities of Tomorrow to conduct feasability studies, preliminary research, and the design and construction of a prototype.

Dr. Mehrandezh has worked with the City of Regina to improve the design, and work continues towards development of a commercially viable version of the pipe crawler.

The Popular Mechanics article was published in their July edition, and is also available online at www.popularmechanics.com, under the heading “5 High-Tech Fixes for Infrastructure”.