Dragonfly: AI Sewer Inspection

2019 – 2021 · Hitachi Vantara × Jacobs

The problem

Wastewater networks are inspected by CCTV crawlers that produce kilometres of footage. Coding every defect to the PACP standard by hand is slow and expensive, and it delays the maintenance decisions that matter.

What we built

As a founding member of Dragonfly, built in collaboration with Jacobs Water, I helped turn raw CCTV into prioritised maintenance actions:

  • Deep-learning models trained on 300,000+ metres of video footage.
  • >95% PACP coding accuracy, even in gritty sewer conditions.

Automated detection of defects in a sewer pipe

Impact

Trimmed inspection and rehabilitation cost by roughly 25%. See also the automated industrial inspection work this built on.