Thinking about boxes, robots and endless possibilities

We all know that old saying about thinking outside the box. We're supposed to do it. We're supposed to be the only people doing it. People tell us to do it, but do they really mean it? Now, I tend to joke that even the people who use that phrase don't actually want "outside the box" thinking. Not really. Not truly. Instead, they simply want you to paint the same old box a different, shiny color. That's what they mean by all those boxy thoughts.

This week, I spent some time in a very hot and very humid San Antonio preparing for our upcoming Utility Products Conference and Exposition and doing some thinking that's all about a box---well, a box-shaped robot, anyway. I made a special trip to South Texas to discuss details about hanging the Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI's) transmission robot, Ti, at the show. (More info on Ti can be found by clicking here.)

Ti really is a bit of compact dramatic irony. It's outside-the-box thinking shaped into a very boxy package---a very boxy and very heavy package. It's new cutting edge transmission research wrapped in what we've always traditionally label as an old-fashioned, out-dated concept---that dreaded box. In this case, the box is neither old-fashioned nor out-dated. Instead, it truly represents the newest options for technology in our field. And we are delighted to get to show it off to all of you at the upcoming show.

This week, with the great help of Tom from EPRI's partner Southwest Research, we had some unique thinking about how to properly display and show off that cutting edge box. (Southwest Research helped bring Ti to life, and they're local to the San Antonio area. So, it's great to have them in the mix for logistics.)

Ti will be moving and grooving across the ceiling of the combined DistribuTECH and Utility Products Conf. and Expo exhibit floor Jan. 24, 25 and 26, 2012. Zipping along nearly 90 feet of cable above the heads of show attendees, Ti is poised to be a center attraction at the event, and, with each step closer to the January show, I grow more excited about these robots. (Yep, there will be more than just Ti.)

I hope you guys are equally excited. For more information on the robots and other Utility Products Conf. and Expo attractions, click here.

Speaking of outside-the-box thinking, Davy Crocket is quoted all over the San Antonio area for famously saying "You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas" to his Tennessee political opponents (and then President Andrew Jackson, whose policies he truly hated) before giving his life in a showdown at the Alamo. Perhaps Texas wasn't the best choice for Davy, but it is a great choice for you this coming January. With Ti in the mix, we'll bring outside-the-box thinking directly to the town that lured Crockett.

And, unlike Davy, you can visit the Alamo without planning for a military onslaught this January---though I might suggest prepping for an onslaught of information, data and friendly little robots.

There's a robot invasion coming

I am excited to announce that the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) will be bringing two of their industry research robots, Ti and Scotty, to the Utility Products Conf. and Expo (UPCE) in San Antonio next January. (UPCE runs in conjunction with the largest smart grid conference in the U.S., DistribuTECH.)

EPRI's transmission line inspection robot is the one nicknamed “Ti" (see artist's sketch of Ti above). Ti can be permanently installed and cover about 80 miles of line a couple of times each year as it “crawls” along the line identifying numerous issues from grass and trees too close to the right-of-way to just how components along the line are weathering the wilds. He moves along on a shield wire and dodges obstacles like marker balls by using bypasses installed along the line. Ti can automatically unhook itself from the shield wire, transfer to the bypass, navigate around the marker and then return itself to the shield wire.

The prototype of Ti is being tested and refined at the Lenox, Mass. EPRI lab. Right now, he’s equipped with high definition and infrared cameras and can even be rigged up with light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors. Ti’s job is to pass along information to the utility about what’s going on along the line, along with specific location information that comes from his handy global positioning system.

Ti will also reach out—electronically, at least—to UPCE attendees and give a visual presentation at the show, complete with data transferred back to EPRI's booth inside the co-located DistribuTECH show floor. Ti will, in fact, be hanging from the ceiling of the combined show floor. So, when you visit the floor, make sure to take a good look up.

American Electric Power will partner with EPRI on a first field implementation of Ti. The utility’s engineers are planning to include Ti and his systems in a 765kV line to be built in 2014.

EPRI's second robot to visit UPCE, Scotty, measures street lighting. Today, high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting, such as high-pressure sodium and metal-halide lamps, prevails when it comes to illuminating streets, parking lots and walkways. But high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs) promise a brighter future in outdoor illumination. Their capacity to send a more pleasing light in one direction makes them an ideal candidate to replace conventional outdoor lighting. Since 2009, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has been conducting an LED Energy Efficiency Demonstration. The goal of the project is to discover a better light bulb, one that not only meets the outdoor lighting requirements of consumers but also uses less electricity in doing so. There are a number of reasons for exploring new LED technology for this application, including costs and the low efficiency of HID fixtures.

EPRI is conducting assessments of LED-based street and area lights at over 20 sites within the United States. The assessments require accurate, repeatable and timely measurements of light levels. Existing test methods require hand-held meters and are time-consuming, of limited accuracy and require manual recording of data. EPRI developed a solution for this measurement challenge. That solution is a remote controlled and highly instrumented roving light measurement vehicle known as “Scotty.”

Scotty will demonstrate his lighting measurement skills in a roving display at the outdoor UPCE demonstration area during UPCE 2012 in San Antonio.

To learn more about the combined UPCE/DistribuTECH conference in San Antonio, visit: http://www.utilityproductsexpo.com/ or http://www.distributech.com/.

And keep an eye out for more information---including demonstration times for Ti and Scotty---that will come along as we get closer to the show.


I hope you plan to come join us in witnessing this very positive robot invasion.