Robot Power Line Inspectors Coming

Robots created for the purpose of traveling along thousands of miles of power lines are about to make their debut over the next several years, particularly in the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline region, where trials are set to begin in 2014.

The power line robots will weigh in at 140 pounds and their length will be six feet long.

Their mode of moving will be rollers attached to them which they'll move along at a respectable 3 mph. Special cables will be attached which they can use to navigate around pylons.

Although they'll have solar panels on them, their major source of energy will be the electricity in the power lines themselves (shield wire), with the panels being a backup power system.

Each robot will be able to cover approximately 160 miles of line a year, and cost less than $500,000. That sounds steep, but is less than what it costs for helicopter carrying inspection crews.

This will be interesting, but inspection crews won't have to worry about their jobs just yet, as there is still a need for human eyeballs, and it'll obviously take some time before these robots are ready for prime-time, or to do the job completely by themselves.

After all, what's the point of paying that much for them when you still have to pay for human help?

Testing for the robots will begin in the latter part of June.