Target job
- Visual and geometric snapshot of a de-energised segment;
- Marks for obstacles, deposits, suspected structural defects;
- Gas-threshold monitoring and abort;
- Field mapping onto existing CCTV report fields.
USE CASE · DRAINAGE
Drainage: scout first, then decide whether people go in
Public Drainage Services Department network scale and ageing share show real maintenance demand. PipeGuardian’s drainage target is pre-entry reconnaissance and segment evidence on de-energised, dry, non-explosive runs. It does not replace the mature CCTV-crawler main process.
Drainage systems mix gravity pipes, box culverts, shafts, overflow structures and local inverted siphons. Crawlers already have a full industry language on long wet pipe: push distance, video standard, defect coding. Forcing a flyer to “replace” that main road is neither economic nor safe. The useful cut is: unknown before a shaft transition, local obstacles, spaces a crawler cannot unfold, and a pre-entry snapshot that brings gas / thermal / 3D context to a decision-maker in one pass.
Sewage also brings decontamination, biofilm, wet-wall reflection, H₂S and methane layering. First-edition MVP requires dry conditions or controllable trace condensate. Wet sewage is not forever off the table. It needs a separate evidence gate after seals, materials, recovery and PPE are redefined.
Explicitly out of scope
- Full-pipe diving;
- Entry with unknown, unmonitored atmosphere;
- Claiming to replace a statutory inspection;
- Work in an unrecoverable inverted siphon or collapsed pipe.
OPERATING NOTES
Field discipline
Standby, ventilation / isolation and rescue still follow confined-space rules. A robot reduces unknown. It is not a permit.
Well-head
Exclusion zone, gas background, dock check, signed mission card. Decontamination zone marked in advance.
In-pipe
Low speed, mark weak links, abort on threshold. Slip on wet surfaces is not “more autonomy”.
After exit
Decontaminate before copying data. Defect conclusions need human review. Models only rank.