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Col. Andrew Baker, right, formally marks his entry as the 64th commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District during the passing of the colors at the district’s change of command ceremony July 14 at the LA District Base Yard in...
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren (right) and U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Antoinette Gant, commanding general, USACE-South Pacific Division, shake hands after signing an agreement intended to improve USACE’s support to Navajo Nation at Window Rock,...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District will pause water releases from Isabella Dam’s outlet works on June 27 to conduct a routine inspection of the conduit at the base of the dam following this year’s heightened reservoir inflows and...
Lt. Col. Timothy Shebesta takes command of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District guidon during a ceremony June 23 at the Bay Model Visitor Center in Sausalito, Calif. Prior to this, Shebesta served as a Professor of Military...
Aug. 30 Brig. Gen. Antoinette Gant relinquished command of the US Army Corps of Engineers South Pacific Division to Col. Chad Caldwell. The ceremony, hosted by the Deputy Commanding General of the US Army Corps of Engineers Maj. Gen. William...

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Dambot takes the lead on dangerous assessments

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
Published March 9, 2021
Principal Investigator Dr. Anton Netchaev stands near a robotic system known as the Dambot near the entrance of the outlet works at Blue Mountain Dam, Arkansas, in October 2020. Dambot takes the human element out of a dangerous but necessary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintenance task. The cutting-edge technology has been successfully tested and stands poised to change the course of closure gate assessments, while also safeguarding USACE team members. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

Principal Investigator Dr. Anton Netchaev stands next to a robotic system known as Dambot near the entrance of the outlet works at Blue Mountain Dam, Arkansas, in October 2020. Dambot takes the human element out of a dangerous but necessary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintenance task. The cutting-edge technology has been successfully tested and stands poised to change the course of closure gate assessments, while also safeguarding USACE team members. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

A robotic system known as the Dambot operates near closure gates at Blue Mountain Dam, Arkansas in October 2020. Dambot takes the human element out of a dangerous but necessary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintenance task. The cutting-edge technology has  been successfully tested and stands poised to change the course of closure gate assessments, while also safeguarding USACE team members. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

A robotic system known as Dambot operates near closure gates at Blue Mountain Dam, Arkansas in October 2020. Dambot takes the human element out of a dangerous but necessary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintenance task. The cutting-edge technology has been successfully tested and stands poised to change the course of closure gate assessments, while also safeguarding USACE team members. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

A U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) team is designing robotic systems to keep humans out of harm’s way.

Sounding more like the plot of an action movie than a research and development project, a robotic system known as Dambot takes the human element out of a dangerous but necessary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintenance task. The cutting-edge technology has already been successfully tested and stands poised to change the course of closure gate assessments, while also safeguarding USACE team members.

“The Dambot is a tele-operated robotic platform that aids our dam inspection personnel with assessment of earth dam outlet works,” said Principal Investigator Dr. Anton Netchaev, a research computational scientist in the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL). “In the United States, over half of our dams are beyond their expected design life and require regular inspections and maintenance to continue operating. Placing inspection personnel inside a facility’s outlet conduit presents unacceptable risk and in some cases, does not comply with current safety requirements.”

Utilizing a gate to control water levels, earth dams feature an outlet works structure that includes a tunnel that can be up to half a mile long. Construction materials are vulnerable to corrosion and fatigue issues that may compromise the structural integrity of the system and put personnel entering the tunnel in jeopardy. USACE maintains these aging structures, many in unidentified or deteriorated conditions.

“Because of the age of the infrastructure, there is an unknown threat to humans entering the outlet works to inspect closure gates that can be several hundred meters down the conduit tunnel,” said Co-Principal Investigator Jordan Klein, a research computer engineer in ITL. “Our solution was the Dambot, which is designed to give inspection personnel a first look at the conditions inside the outlet works before exposing people to these unknown risks.”

The Dambot, a robotic platform carrying a variety of sensors such as high-resolution cameras and Lidar can create an extremely detailed model of the entire outlet works system. Typically, an inspection involves a human physically entering the tunnel to take photographs of concerning spots and document anomalies by hand. The Dambot allows for precise and repeatable inspections that can be viewed remotely, meaning inspectors can do their jobs from a safe distance.

“The impact of the Dambot is primarily the mitigation of risk to our dam inspectors by giving them the situational awareness to determine the safety of entering outlet works,” said Netchaev. “Additionally, the generated models can be compared for change detection and other structural health monitoring research applications.”

“ITL joined this effort because of our expertise in sensor and sensing system design,” added Klein. “We have and will continue to work closely with structural health monitoring efforts across the Corps of Engineers to deliver safe solutions.”

The first field test of the Dambot sensor suite was recently held at the outlet works at Blue Mountain Dam, Arkansas, and was a success. The cross-disciplinary team of engineers, scientists and technicians is now preparing for a second trip to test the Dambot tele-operation capability. The group also continues to collaborate closely with ERDC's Robotics for Engineer Operations program, which focuses on similar remote sensing capabilities for military operations,  in the area of capability development.


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News Releases

Dambot takes the lead on dangerous assessments

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
Published March 9, 2021
Principal Investigator Dr. Anton Netchaev stands near a robotic system known as the Dambot near the entrance of the outlet works at Blue Mountain Dam, Arkansas, in October 2020. Dambot takes the human element out of a dangerous but necessary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintenance task. The cutting-edge technology has been successfully tested and stands poised to change the course of closure gate assessments, while also safeguarding USACE team members. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

Principal Investigator Dr. Anton Netchaev stands next to a robotic system known as Dambot near the entrance of the outlet works at Blue Mountain Dam, Arkansas, in October 2020. Dambot takes the human element out of a dangerous but necessary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintenance task. The cutting-edge technology has been successfully tested and stands poised to change the course of closure gate assessments, while also safeguarding USACE team members. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

A robotic system known as the Dambot operates near closure gates at Blue Mountain Dam, Arkansas in October 2020. Dambot takes the human element out of a dangerous but necessary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintenance task. The cutting-edge technology has  been successfully tested and stands poised to change the course of closure gate assessments, while also safeguarding USACE team members. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

A robotic system known as Dambot operates near closure gates at Blue Mountain Dam, Arkansas in October 2020. Dambot takes the human element out of a dangerous but necessary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintenance task. The cutting-edge technology has been successfully tested and stands poised to change the course of closure gate assessments, while also safeguarding USACE team members. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

A U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) team is designing robotic systems to keep humans out of harm’s way.

Sounding more like the plot of an action movie than a research and development project, a robotic system known as Dambot takes the human element out of a dangerous but necessary U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintenance task. The cutting-edge technology has already been successfully tested and stands poised to change the course of closure gate assessments, while also safeguarding USACE team members.

“The Dambot is a tele-operated robotic platform that aids our dam inspection personnel with assessment of earth dam outlet works,” said Principal Investigator Dr. Anton Netchaev, a research computational scientist in the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL). “In the United States, over half of our dams are beyond their expected design life and require regular inspections and maintenance to continue operating. Placing inspection personnel inside a facility’s outlet conduit presents unacceptable risk and in some cases, does not comply with current safety requirements.”

Utilizing a gate to control water levels, earth dams feature an outlet works structure that includes a tunnel that can be up to half a mile long. Construction materials are vulnerable to corrosion and fatigue issues that may compromise the structural integrity of the system and put personnel entering the tunnel in jeopardy. USACE maintains these aging structures, many in unidentified or deteriorated conditions.

“Because of the age of the infrastructure, there is an unknown threat to humans entering the outlet works to inspect closure gates that can be several hundred meters down the conduit tunnel,” said Co-Principal Investigator Jordan Klein, a research computer engineer in ITL. “Our solution was the Dambot, which is designed to give inspection personnel a first look at the conditions inside the outlet works before exposing people to these unknown risks.”

The Dambot, a robotic platform carrying a variety of sensors such as high-resolution cameras and Lidar can create an extremely detailed model of the entire outlet works system. Typically, an inspection involves a human physically entering the tunnel to take photographs of concerning spots and document anomalies by hand. The Dambot allows for precise and repeatable inspections that can be viewed remotely, meaning inspectors can do their jobs from a safe distance.

“The impact of the Dambot is primarily the mitigation of risk to our dam inspectors by giving them the situational awareness to determine the safety of entering outlet works,” said Netchaev. “Additionally, the generated models can be compared for change detection and other structural health monitoring research applications.”

“ITL joined this effort because of our expertise in sensor and sensing system design,” added Klein. “We have and will continue to work closely with structural health monitoring efforts across the Corps of Engineers to deliver safe solutions.”

The first field test of the Dambot sensor suite was recently held at the outlet works at Blue Mountain Dam, Arkansas, and was a success. The cross-disciplinary team of engineers, scientists and technicians is now preparing for a second trip to test the Dambot tele-operation capability. The group also continues to collaborate closely with ERDC's Robotics for Engineer Operations program, which focuses on similar remote sensing capabilities for military operations,  in the area of capability development.