Photos: How this robot dog helps Dubai detect faults and leakage in water pipes

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), which has been on the path to rapid digital transformation, is the first utility department in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region to use Boston Dynamics’s four-legged Spot Robots.

Dewa started testing the different uses of the robot in its internal operations about two years ago and the prototype is a huge draw among the visitors and participants at Gitex Global 2022, which started on Monday and concludes on Friday (October 10-14).

“The move is in line with Dewa’s strategy to use the latest Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and adopting artificial intelligence (AI) in its different operations for the past two years,” said Hamad Abdulla Abduljabbar Almheiri, Senior Executive, Innovation Design and Management, Innovation & The Future.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), energy storage, blockchain, Internet of Things (IOT), and other new technologies are also being unveiled during the five-day technology event — the biggest in the region.

Dewa intends to use Spot Robots for conducting security and monitoring patrols, detecting faults and leakage in water pipes, testing connection points of high-voltage cables, ensuring construction works are aligned with specifications using multiple-angle cameras and managing different facilities such as warehouses, in addition to helping people of determination.

Similarly, Dewa’s virtual assistant Rammas, which is AI-driven and used to further enhance customers’ satisfaction, is also on show.

However, Spot Robots and Rammas robots are not yet interconnected and are assigned separate tasks to push through Dewa’s digital agenda, Almheiri added.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dewa, weighed in on the significance of Gitex Global.

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