Balancing the impact of City Infrastructure Engineering on Natural systems using Robots

我们的愿景是一个基础设施自主维护和动态响应的城市，专注于：确保市民的健康和福祉;为城市的繁荣和可持续自然系统做出贡献;创造积极的经济和社会前景。为了实现我们的愿景，我们将应对以下重大挑战：到2050年，英国城市街道工作零中断。我们强大的跨学科团队渴望通过开拓性的科学研究来实现我们的重大挑战（和研究方法）到：自主系统的微创基础设施传感，诊断和维修;先进的机器人部署在复杂的生活城市环境的发展;以及机器人-人类-自然系统界面的社会技术复杂性。我们将开发与特定应用需求相关的开创性机器人设计、技术实施和社会经济影响案例，从三个案例研究系统开始：o“栖息和修复”远程维护和现代化灯柱，以促进其作为城市通信节点的多功能平台的使用; o“感知和修补”飞行车辆群，用于自主检查、诊断、修复和预防公路缺陷（例如坑洼）;o“发射后即可忘记”混合机器人，旨在在带电的公用事业管道内无限期运行，执行检查、维修、计量和报告任务。

Our vision is that of a city where infrastructure is autonomously maintained and dynamically responsive, focused on: securing the health & wellbeing of its citizens; contributing to flourishing and sustainable natural systems in the city; and creating positive economic and societal outlooks. Towards our vision we will tackle the Grand Challenge of: Zero disruption from Streetworks in UK Cities by 2050.Our strongly interdisciplinary team aspires to fulfil our Grand Challenge through pioneering scientific research (and research methods) into: autonomous systems for minimally invasive infrastructure sensing, diagnosis and repair; development of advanced robots for deployment in complex live city environments; and the socio-technical intricacy of the robot - human - natural systems interfaces. We will develop pioneering robot designs, technical implementations and socio-economic impact cases linked to specific application requirements, starting with three case-study systems:o "Perch and Repair" remote maintenance and modernisation of lighting columns to promote their use as multifunctional platforms for city communication nodes; o "Perceive and Patch" Swarms of flying vehicles for autonomous inspection, diagnostics, repair and prevention of highway defects (e.g. potholes);o "Fire and forget" hybrid robots designed to operate indefinitely within live utility pipes performing inspection, repair, metering and reporting tasks.