Manufacturing line/Pipelines/Pipeline robots
Autonomous · Pipelines

Pipeline robots

A robot through every segment every day, and a spread that lays 5 km a day with no crew.

Phase 8 · 2035+Concept design
Robot speed
3 m/s, held
Inspection
Every segment, daily
Spread rate
5 km / day
Crew on spread
0
I · Blueprint
In-line robot and build spread, live systems
ELEVATION · IN-LINE ROBOT IN THE 48 in LINE · 1 m ≈ 170 px1.76 m1.85 m1.40 mROBOT 5.4 m · 3 MODULES · 7 tID1,169 mmGAS 4.8–6.7 m/sΔp 0.28 barROBOT 3 m/s →AABSPREAD · SEVEN MACHINES ON THE RIGHT-OF-WAY · WORK MOVES RIGHT · SCHEMATICSPREAD ≈ 3 km · 5 km A DAY · 205 WELDS010402031005060708091112131415161718SECTION A–A · HALL SENSOR RINGDETAIL B · SPEED CONTROL AND TURBINEDETAIL C · SPEED ALONG ONE 250 km LEG32 shoes × 32 Hall sensors= 1,024, 3.6 mm apartMagnetiser yokeID 1,169 mmcablingDrive cupBypass duct Ø 0.52 mTurbine Ø 120 mm, 2,000 rpmGenerator 1 kW, 48 VSleeve valve, spring-openp₁p₂Δp = p₁ − p₂ = 0.28 bar → 30 kN on the cupsBypass 2.0–3.9 m³/s03570125250km from the station →m/sgas 4.8 → 6.7 m/srobot, held at 3 m/scertified limit 5 m/sbypassLeg of 250 km in 23 h; full bypass at the suction end
01Drive cups — 30 kN on 0.28 barRobot
02Nose valve — bypass up to 20% of the boreEnergy
03Turbine generator — 1 kWEnergy
04Universal joints — pass 3 D bendsRobot
05Magnetiser — permanent magnets, steel brushesSensing
06Hall sensor ring — 1,024 channelsSensing
07EMAT ring — 256 channels, cracksSensing
08Caliper arms and odometers — 64 arms, 3 wheelsSensing
09Pressure hull — 2 AI modules, 8 TBSensing
10Battery — 14 kWh LFP, 48 VEnergy
11Acoustic beacon — status to the line fibreSensing
12Survey drone — route and as-builtSpread
13Trencher — 400 kW, electricSpread
14Pipe carrier — two doubles a tripSpread
15Weld shelters — 3, one joint every 7 minSpread
16Ultrasonic test and coating shelterSpread
17E-sidebooms — 240 kW, 600 kWh packSpread
18Backfill and paddingSpread
II · Power & drivetrain

The gas pushes; the robot takes one kilowatt.

The in-line robot rides the flow at a steady 3 m/s. A sleeve valve in its nose lets the faster gas slip through, and a small turbine in that bypass charges a 14 kWh battery that runs every sensor and both AI modules. The build spread runs on swappable 600 kWh packs charged at a gas-fired hub.

In-line robot — rotating view
Gas pushes on the cups from the tail. At the nose, the sleeve valve lets the faster gas through the bypass, and the turbine in it spins. Behind the drive module ride the magnetiser with its Hall sensor ring, then the EMAT ring, the odometer wheels and the pressure hull with the battery, compute and storage.
01Nose valve — bypass up to 20% of the bore
02Turbine generator — 1 kW at 2,000 rpm
03Drive cups — 30 kN on 0.28 bar
04Universal joints — pass 3 D bends
05Magnetiser poles — steel brushes on the wall
06Hall sensor ring — 1,024 channels
07EMAT ring — 256 channels
08Odometer wheels — 3, 2 mm sampling
09Pressure hull — 2 AI modules, 8 TB, 14 kWh
10Rear guide disc
Bypass turbine
TypeAxial, 9 blades, in the bypass duct
Diameter120 mm
Speed2,000 rpm
Flow0.1 m³/s of the bypass
Output1 kW at 48 V
Torque5.3 N·m
Battery14 kWh LFP, 40 h alone
Naked drivetrain — line gas to a 48 V bus; fuel to a spread
III · How it is put together

Three modules, one launcher.

The robot is three modules on universal joints, so it passes 3 D bends. The loop replays the build order, ending in the station launcher.

BUILD CRADLEPRESSURE HULLMAGNETISEREMAT RINGDRIVE MODULEJOINTS COUPLEDLAUNCHERFIRST RUN
I
Pressure hull: battery, compute and storage sealed, proof-tested to 225 bar
II
Magnetiser: magnets, brushes and the Hall sensor ring
III
EMAT ring, caliper arms and odometers on the hull module
IV
Drive module: cups, nose valve and turbine; joints coupled
V
Loaded into the launcher by the trap robot; first run
IV · Specification

Design specification.

Design specification for the IC in-line robot and the autonomous build spread.

Robot speed
3 m/s, held
Leg
250 km in 23 h
Inspection
Every segment, daily
Sensors
MFL · EMAT · caliper
Onboard load
350 W
Turbine generator
1 kW
Battery
14 kWh, 40 h alone
Robot
7 t, 5.4 m, 3 modules
Data per leg
≈ 400 GB
Sampling
2 mm × 3.6 mm
Speed limit
5 m/s, certified
Fleet per 1,000 km
6 robots
Spread rate
5 km / day
Welds
205 a day
Spread power
1.35 MW average
Crew on spread
0
Onboard compute
Two light modules ride inside the robot; the certified controller holds its speed
ModulesIn-line robot: 2 light AI modules + 1 certified safety controller (SIL 3) in the pressure hull. Each spread machine: 2 heavy AI modules + 1 safety controller.
CPURobot: 16 cores (2 × 8), plus 2 lockstep real-time cores per module. Spread machine: 32 cores (2 × 16), plus 4 lockstep real-time cores per module.
AI throughputRobot: 3,000 TOPS (2 × 1,500, INT8 / FP4 sparse). Spread machine: 10,000 TOPS (2 × 5,000).
MemoryRobot: 2 × 64 GB LPDDR6, 300 GB/s per module. Spread machine: 2 × 128 GB, 600 GB/s per module.
Power drawRobot: 82 W of compute inside a 350 W load, all from the bypass turbine. Spread machine: 212 W of compute, ≈ 0.4 kW with sensors.
Process node2 nm-class SoCs; safety controllers on a mature 16 nm node, 15-year supply. Compute is a line-replaceable unit, swapped at mid-life.
RedundancyEvery sensor is wired to both modules. In the robot, module A is primary for the magnetic-flux and caliper data and module B for the EMAT ring; each is hot standby for the other. A software fault can never drive the robot outside its certified safe envelope.
Safety channelThe SIL 3 controller holds the robot under 5 m/s on its own sensors: two independent speed pickups on the odometer wheels, a differential-pressure transducer across the cups and the valve position encoder. On any fault a spring opens the bypass and the robot slows. On the spread it holds e-stop, geofence and load-moment limits on safety-rated radar, load cells and boom-angle encoders.
SensorsRobot: 1,024 Hall channels, 256 EMAT channels, 64 caliper arms, 3 odometers, navigation-grade IMU. Spread machine: 8 cameras on automotive Ethernet through camera aggregation switches, 2 lidars, 4 radars, RTK GNSS.
LinkNo radio in the pipe: an acoustic beacon sends status to the line fibre at 10 bit/s, and each leg’s 400 GB offloads at the trap over a 10 Gbit/s dock in 6 minutes. Spread machines: private 5G and satellite to The Brain. The valve drive and every machine drive close their own inner loops at 1 kHz.
Inside the pipe the robot is on its own for a day: the robot agent holds 3 m/s, reads the wall and flags anything that changed since the last run. The Brain takes the flags at the next trap and the full record into the line’s twin minutes later.
Today vs IC
Inspection and construction: today beside the IC design
Today · smart pig and crewed spreadIC design
Inspection drivePushed by the flow; a battery powers the sensors onlyPushed by the flow; a 1 kW bypass turbine powers everything, and a 14 kWh battery carries 40 h
SpeedAverages 15 mph in gas; speed-control tools hold 6–8 mphHeld at 3 m/s at any line flow
IntervalReassessment at least every 7 yearsEvery segment, every day
AnalysisData analysed after the runAnalysed on board; changes flagged at the next trap
PipelayerDiesel, 238 kW (319 hp), operator in the cabBattery-electric, 240 kW, 600 kWh pack in the counterweight, no cab
Spread1.5–3 km a day, hundreds of workers5 km a day, day and night, 0 crew
The IC column is the design shown on this page. Sources for the Today column are listed in BUILD_NOTES.md.
Runs on The Brain
Every launch, speed set-point and weld on the spread is planned by The Brain, and every robot run lands in the line’s digital twin minutes after it reaches the trap.
See how it works →
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