The Michigan Engineer News Center

New video on detecting buried utilities

Civil and Environmental Engineering
November 6, 2014
Associate Professor Vineet Kamat and Postdoctoral Fellow Suyang Dong are featured in a new video from MConneX on detecting buried utilities.| Short Read

Every sixty seconds in the United States an excavator hits a buried utility. Striking a cable, sewer, water, gas or fiber optic line can cause major damage as well as cut communities off from our crucial infrastructure. In addition, humans are often in the trenches to manually ensure that engineering standards are met.

In order to prevent future utility damage and ensure the safety of construction workers, the U-M Lab for Interactive Visualization has developed a new way to efficiently operate an excavator using their computer vision system, Smart Dig.

Learn more about Smart Dig by clicking on the video below, or visiting YouTube.

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