Smart Robot Inspection System Launched at Shanghai’s Taihe Sewage Treatment Plant

Shanghai Chengtou Group has officially put a new intelligent robot system into operation at the second phase of its Taihe Sewage Treatment Plant. The upgraded robotic setup takes charge of routine on-site inspection tasks, marking a solid step in the city’s AI-driven industrial upgrade and the systematic deployment of intelligent robots for water service operations.

According to China News Service, the Taihe facility is a fully underground sewage treatment plant. Traditional manual inspection has long been constrained by operational limitations in enclosed underground spaces. It faces prominent safety risks and weak real-time identification of dynamic on-site hazards, making comprehensive and precise daily monitoring difficult to sustain.

To address these operational pain points, the second-phase site has adopted a full-spectrum robotic inspection fleet covering ground and aerial scenarios. The equipment includes wheeled robots, quadruped robots, drones and unmanned surface vessels. All units are equipped with high-definition visual cameras, infrared thermal imagers and gas sensors, forming a multi-modal perception system powered by advanced artificial intelligence algorithms.

The integrated intelligent system adapts seamlessly to five core operational scenarios within the plant. It can automatically identify 21 types of potential safety hazards, five key technological operation statuses and two critical equipment conditions throughout the production process. This intelligent recognition mechanism delivers far higher accuracy and stability than conventional manual patrols.

The newly launched solution is the country’s first three-dimensional “land, sea and air” intelligent inspection system tailored for sewage treatment facilities with multiple robot categories. It achieves full coverage of all functional areas in the second-phase plant and supports fully automatic, round-the-clock and dead-angle-free operational monitoring.

The intelligent robotic system brings substantial improvements in operational safety, inspection efficiency and scenario adaptability. It effectively reduces manual intervention in high-risk underground environments and stabilizes the overall operational quality of sewage treatment procedures. As a pioneering application of intelligent robotics in urban water operation and maintenance, the system will set a new benchmark for the digital and intelligent transformation of the national water service industry.

Moving forward, the scalable robotic inspection model will support refined and intelligent management of urban sewage treatment infrastructure. It offers replicable technical experience for promoting AI empowerment in urban environmental governance and public utility operation across the country.