Acwa Robotic caused a sensation at CES 2023 by winning three awards thanks to the Pathfinder, its autonomous robot capable of inspecting water pipes.
CES 2023, which was held in Las Vegas from January 9 to 12, 2023, closed its doors a few weeks ago. And for Acwa Robotics, a French startup that develops robotic solutions to map and assess the state of water networks, it’s time to take stock.
And it is rather positive since this company, based in Corsica and Aix-en-Provence, was one of the stars of the American tech show by winning three innovation prizes for the Pathfinder, its autonomous robot capable of inspect pipes and track down leaks.
“We presented a machine which is currently in pre-series, that is to say that we will be marketing it in a few months. This new machine is called the Pathfinder because it will discover places that the “we haven’t explored in drinking water pipes yet. A model of the Pathfinder was presented at CES. It was a bit like a semi-launch and CES was the perfect cradle for that”, explained Jean- François Guiderdoni, associate director of Acwa Robotics and guest of Tech&Co this Tuesday, January 24.
A distinguished innovation at CES 2023
Intended for water services, the Pathfinder is an autonomous caterpillar robot that can analyze the condition of pipes and prevent leaks. “You have loss of thickness, micro-cracks, areas of corrosion… It is possible to analyze all this with images, ultrasounds and a series of sensors on board the machine. Our objective is to be able to help water services to identify areas to renew, which would allow them to prioritize their investments and reduce their maintenance costs by being preventive”, underlined Jean-François Guiderdoni.
Concretely, the Pathfinder’s artificial intelligence, which allows it to accomplish its mission, tells it the distance to travel while allowing it to automatically identify the data to be recovered (leak, rust, corrosion, joint fault, etc.). ) and the frequency of collection of this information.
The Pathfinder earned Acwa Robotics real recognition from the press and from the CES in Las Vegas, since the startup won three innovation awards on this occasion. A spotlight that allowed him to find new business opportunities. “For us, the CES was a full box. We are happy to have gone there”, welcomed Jean-François Guiderdoni who plans to market the Pathfinder for 2024.
