Joint Research on an AI Model Automating the Assessment of Sewer Pipe Deterioration has Won the Challenge Award at the Infrastructure Maintenance Awards 2025
PACIFIC CONSULTANTS CO., LTD. (Address: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, President Executive Officer: Osamu OMOTO), together with the Kyoto City Water and Sewerage Bureau and Rist Inc. (Address: Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto; President and Representative Director: Kei NAGANO), has won the Challenge Award at the Infrastructure Maintenance Awards 2025 sponsored by Japan Society of Civil Engineers, a public interest incorporated association.
This awarding system is specialized in the field of infrastructure maintenance, and aims to increase incentives for those involved in maintenance by evaluating and sharing outstanding projects (businesses), people and organizations (engineers, operators, managers, etc.), individual elemental technologies (inspection/diagnosis, construction methods, materials, etc.), and papers (practical research) related to infrastructure maintenance.
URL: https://inframaintenance.jsce.or.jp/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/848871d164e0d81f31847342e146b82d.pdf
■Award Details
Title of the Award: New sewer pipe investigation using AI and sports cameras
Winners: Kyoto City Waterworks Bureau, PACIFIC CONSULTANTS CO., LTD., Rist Inc.
Reason for being Awarded: In order to solve the issues of huge survey length and cost in sewer pipe inspection, we developed a method that combines high-resolution pipe entrance camera inspection with AI image judgment technology. Specifically, we have achieved efficiency in pipe inspection by using two types of AI tools: an "inside pipe image quality judgment tool" that ensures on-site photography quality, and an "inside pipe deterioration judgment tool" that quantitatively evaluates the degree of deterioration.