City's smart sewer management project selected for national disaster prevention grant

AI to automatically detect cracks, leaks and subsidence to prioritize repairs

Busan City Hall [Busan city government]
Busan City Hall [Busan city government]

Busan will invest 125 million won ($80,400) from next month through year-end to introduce automated sewer inspection equipment powered by advanced robots and AI technology.

The city announced Wednesday that its "intelligent robot-based smart sewer safety management project" had been selected for the central government's 2026 local government disaster prevention support program. The project is designed to use AI to get ahead of the growing threat of ground subsidence — sinkholes — driven by large-scale underground excavation and aging sewer infrastructure.

Conventional sewer inspections have relied on CCTV footage reviewed by human operators after the fact, making comprehensive surveys of extensive pipe networks difficult and leaving room for misreading. In response, the city plans to shift to what it calls "smart preventive administration" — combining advanced robots and AI to detect hazards the naked eye cannot catch before problems occur.

The city will first introduce intelligent mobile robots. Rather than sending workers into the high-risk, confined spaces of sewer pipes, it will deploy semi-autonomous tracked and wheeled robots to improve both worker safety and inspection efficiency. The robots will carry high-definition cameras, 3D laser scanners, and ultrasonic and gas sensors to precisely measure conditions inside the pipes, including cracks and hazardous gases.

AI will automatically read and assess any defects found in the sewer lines. Deep-learning algorithms will be applied to the video footage and sensor data collected by the robots, enabling AI to independently detect and analyze six major categories of defects: cracks, breakage, leaks, subsidence, tree-root intrusion and sediment buildup. The system moves away from reactive, after-the-fact maintenance by letting AI determine the priority order for preemptive repairs.

Busan expects the project to enable early diagnosis of sewer defects, preventing major disasters such as ground subsidence and easing public anxiety. The city also anticipates significant savings on post-disaster costs — facility restoration and compensation payments — that typically follow such incidents.

"Deploying advanced robots and AI in underground spaces where human access is difficult will dramatically improve the safety and accuracy of sewer inspections," said Kim Ki-hwan, the city's director of public safety. "We will use the data accumulated through this project to build Busan into a world-class smart safety city."


kaf2002@heraldcorp.com