A TH&VS grad has won $3,000.00 in an innovation challenge at Cambrian College in Sudbury. Joe Greco is a student in the mechatronics program. “It’s robotics with automation,” he explains.
His entry is a remote controlled robot that brings a camera through water and sewer pipes, doing inspections. Because it’s not tethered to a cable, it doesn’t have to be hauled out when it reaches the cable’s end.
Safety is also an advantage, as Greco realized when working with an inspection crew.
“I had seen a worker go and put one of these robots into a manhole by placing his feet on each side of the manhole,” he recounts. “He could slip and fall in right there.”
Greco calls his masterpiece “the Next Generation Model 1” – “NG-1” for short.
He intends to use his prize money for further development.
“Just continuing to work on the prototype, potentially look for funding and that and see where the project goes.”
For proprietary reasons, Greco can’t share any photos of NG-1.