Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Macomb County highlights AI-powered sewer drone program, says early use cut inspection costs
Summary
County Public Works presented an in-house sewer inspection program that combines Flybotics drones, a custom ‘GoFlow’ buoy, LIDAR scans and Sewer AI software; presenters said the technology sped reporting from months to days and produced about $4 million in avoided work in the program's first year.
Macomb County Public Works demonstrated an in-house sewer inspection program using aerial/underground drones, LIDAR and cloud-based “Sewer AI” software, saying the technology gives higher-resolution footage, faster review and significant cost savings.
Public Works staff showed commissioners a Flybotics inspection drone and a county-built flotation camera the department calls “GoFlow,” and described a workflow that ingests 4K video and point-cloud LIDAR scans into a cloud AI package for automated defect coding. “Literally, in about 24 to 48 hours, we've got everything, and it's better,” said Vince Astorino, a Public Works presenter. Astorino told commissioners the county used that data to avoid an immediate $4 million rehabilitation in the first months after the program began.
The presentation explained the inspection schedule and equipment capabilities. Capt. Zach (staff drone operator) demonstrated the drone’s footage and the department showed side‑by‑side comparisons with older CCTV inspection video. The drone’s…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
