PR100: a tethered robot that inspects pipework — and retrieves what fell in

When a foreign object ends up inside process pipework, the options are usually bad ones: cut the line open, or accept the risk of leaving it there. PR100 is a prototype system built around a third option — send in a robot that can see the problem, grip it and bring it out, and that can be recovered under control if it gets stuck doing so.

Three parts to the system

• The in-pipe robot — a modular body with an articulating joint, driven omni-wheels and ball castors, a three-axis front gripper with interchangeable ends, a high-definition camera, a defect-detection unit and ring LED lighting.
• A tether management system that pays out and recovers the umbilical under controlled tension, so cable drag never becomes the thing that strands the robot.
• A ground station carrying the operator interface, live video, status monitoring, task control, graded alarms, event recording and report export.

Getting through the hard bits

The system is specified for DN80 to DN250 pipework, with DN100 and DN150 as the validation focus. Passage is proven on a purpose-built bench: straight sections, 90° bends, check-valve and tee-valve mock-ups, and step and valve-cavity features that catch out simpler crawlers.

Coming back is a requirement, not a hope

A defined Release–Centre–Recovery sequence lets a jammed or stalled robot be released, re-centred in the bore and withdrawn. It is treated as a first-class deliverable with its own validation milestone, not as an operator improvisation.

An evidence chain, not just a video

Event logs, state timelines, captured video and exportable reports mean an inspection can be reviewed, audited and compared long after the robot has come back out — which is what turns a one-off intervention into a repeatable maintenance procedure.

The 34-week programme runs from requirements freeze through structural design, assembly, tether and ground-station readiness, full-system commissioning, bench and mock-up validation and safety verification, to on-site trial operation and acceptance. It delivers the robot, the tether management system, the ground station, two interchangeable gripper ends, the validation rigs, a spares pack and the full document set.