MUMBAI, India, Sept. 14 -- Intellectual Property India has published a patent application (202641108159 A) filed by Pragati Engineering College on September 09, 2026, for Low-Cost Autonomous Underwater Robotic System For Inspection, Fault Detection, And Repair Of Hydropower Structures.
Inventors include Dr. Balla Satyanarayana; Dr. K Saroja Rani; Ms. Rubia Tasneem; and Dr. Radhika Vadhi.
The application for the patent was published on September 11, 2026, under issue no. 37/2026.
Abstract: The present invention relates to a low-cost autonomous underwater robotic system for inspection, fault detection, localization, repair, and verification of submerged hydropower structures. The system comprises an underwater robotic vehicle equipped with propulsion units, navigation sensors, an underwater imaging module, structural inspection sensors, an onboard processing unit, an artificial intelligence-based fault detection module, a fault localization module, a stabilization controller, and a modular repair mechanism. The robotic vehicle autonomously navigates along submerged hydropower structures and acquires image and sensor data for structural inspection. The artificial intelligence module identifies and classifies structural abnormalities such as cracks, corrosion, surface deterioration, material loss, deposits, and other detectable faults. The system determines the approximate location of the detected fault and autonomously positions and stabilizes the robotic vehicle relative to the affected region. Based on the fault classification, a suitable localized repair operation is performed using a modular repair mechanism. Following repair, the system performs a second inspection and compares pre-repair and post-repair conditions to verify the effectiveness of the repair. The invention therefore provides an integrated closed-loop inspection–detection–localization–repair–verification system intended to reduce dependence on manual underwater inspection, improve maintenance efficiency, and enable low-cost autonomous inspection and localized repair of hydropower structures.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
