Macomb County is flying into the future by deploying drones and artificial intelligence for underground inspections, a strategic move streamlining processes and cutting costs. Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller announced the county's tech-savvy leap on Monday at St. Clair Shores' Chapaton Pump Station, the Detroit News reports. By pairing Swiss-made Flybotix drones with California-based SewerAI's software, the county sets a precedent in Michigan's infrastructure management, embracing the promise of "very transformational" technology, as Miller told journalists.
A break from traditional, labor-intensive methods, this high-tech inspection duo is capable of beaming back video data from sewers up to 60 feet deep. According to Macomb Daily, the drones flaunt LED lights and a protective cage, ensuring clear footage even in compact spaces. Meanwhile, the revolutionary AI system swoops in to analyze that footage for defects, making manual, time-consuming assessments a relic of the past. A process that once spanned months or years is now trimmed to a mere 24 hours.
These technological advancements resonate with an urgency stemming from the 2016 sinkhole catastrophe on 15 Mile Road, a disaster Miller keenly remembers. “If we learned anything from the terrible sinkhole infrastructure disaster that happened on 15 Mile Road a number of years ago, we learned the necessity for inspections – for inspecting all of our critical underground infrastructure and inspecting it on a regular basis as much as we can within the dollars that we have,” Miller said, as captured by WWJ Newsradio. Fortified by that lesson, the Public Works office aims to enhance its asset-management plan, creating a database to inform critical maintenance decisions and future upgrades.
In addition to the flyers, Macomb's Public Works personnel are also adept at using a DIY floatable device, equipped with a GoPro, to traverse water-carried pipes, the setup generating 3-D recordings for AI's discerning eye. Together, these innovations represent a shrewd investment; Miller predicts a reduction in inspection costs from $1 million every three years to less than $100,000 for a tech bundle that also mitigates the risk of infrastructure failure. The commissioner's vision of this effective and frugal approach to maintenance is clear: “We may be the first in the state to do this, but I will make a prediction that by the end of the year, others are gonna be following here. This is a new wave. This is how it’s going. This is how you can utilize technology for a common good,” she affirmed to WWJ Newsradio.
Juxtaposed against the bleak backdrop of potential infrastructure disasters, Macomb County's drone and AI deployment shines as a beacon of preventive measure, promising taxpayer relief and improved safety. Candice Miller and her staff, including "Captain Zack" himself, drone operator Zach Heaton, continue to navigate new depths with these tech tools, per Macomb Daily. Observers might well note the county soaring, not just in technological aptitude but also in stewardship of public resources and infrastructure resilience.
