This mini robot inspects world's largest particle collider
What's the story
A team of British scientists has developed a revolutionary mouse-sized robot, dubbed PipeINEER, to inspect the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on the Swiss-French border. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) collaborated to create this first-of-its-kind robotic marvel. The 3.7cm wide machine travels autonomously through the narrow pipes of the 27km-long collider, making inspections in tight and cold areas much easier than before.
Technological innovation
PipeINEER takes detailed images along the beamline
The PipeINEER robot, which is a portmanteau of pipe and pioneer, is 20cm long. It takes detailed images along the beamline and employs artificial intelligence to detect any deformities. Nick Sykes, director of UKAEA's robotics center, expressed his pride in applying their expertise to support CERN's world-leading experiments. He said that by combining remote handling experience with CERN's scientific excellence, they are ensuring the LHC operates safely and efficiently for years to come.
Scientific significance
What is the LHC and how does it work?
The LHC, which started operations in 2008, accelerates two particle beams to nearly the speed of light and collides them. These collisions are expected to reveal new physics phenomena among the debris, such as the Higgs boson discovered at the site in 2012. The collider consists of over 1,200 "dipole" magnets arranged end-to-end to steer particles around a circular tunnel located under the French-Swiss border near Geneva.
Inspection revolution
PipeINEER marks a major step forward in maintenance
The magnets are kept at a frigid -271°C and surround the narrow beamlines, which are vacuums. This makes it extremely difficult for humans to inspect the tunnel. CERN recently turned to UKAEA's robotics center in Culham for a robotic solution to this problem, given their expertise in hazardous and hard-to-reach environments. Dr Giuseppe Bregliozzi from CERN said that PipeINEER would "transform how we inspect and maintain the LHC," marking a major step forward in keeping their experiments running smoothly.