AI-trained robotic mice to roam the Large Hadron Collider • The Register

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is getting a new set of inspectors - and they're not human. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and CERN have jointly developed a "mouse-sized robot" named PipeINEER to navigate the collider's 27 km vacuum tubes and hunt for deformed RF contacts that could cause obstructions in the beamline.

PipeINEER (image courtesy of United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority)

Despite its name suggesting rodent-like qualities, PipeINEER looks nothing like a mouse. The 3.7 cm wide (about 1.5 in) robot was designed to trundle autonomously through long, narrow pipes - perhaps that's where the mouse comparison came from. The pipes it will inspect run the entire circumference of the LHC, which straddles the border between France and Switzerland near Geneva.

The environment these robots will operate in is extreme. The pipes carry particle beams surrounded by superconducting magnets maintained at -271°C (-455°F) while operating under high vacuum conditions. Add in their position deep within the infrastructure, and human access for inspection becomes extremely challenging.

The inspections are critical because the LHC contains about 2,000 plug-in modules (PIMs) that handle expansion and contraction caused by temperature and pressure extremes. Within these modules, thin radio frequency "fingers" designed to maintain electrical contact can become deformed, causing obstructions inside the beamline.

PipeINEER can travel up to six kilometers on battery power while capturing detailed images of each PIM. The robot uses an AI model trained to detect abnormalities - if it finds an issue, it returns to its starting point and reports the exact location of the problem. This allows engineers to address specific points along the 27 km collider without having to disassemble sections of pipe and use manual endoscopes.

The robot was developed by UKAEA's Remote Applications in Challenging Environments (RACE) robotics center for CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. While we'd love to report that PipeINEER is based on a Raspberry Pi module or similar technology, UKAEA had not responded to requests for further technical details at the time of publication.

RACE director Nick Sykes said in a statement: "We're proud to apply our robotics expertise from fusion energy to support CERN's world leading experiments. By combining our remote handling experience with CERN's scientific excellence, we're helping ensure the Large Hadron Collider operates safely and efficiently for years to come."

PipeINEER isn't the only robot being tasked with going where humans cannot. The famous Boston Dynamics robot dogs are set to help with the ongoing cleanup and decommissioning of the UK's Sellafield nuclear site.

This development represents another step in using AI and robotics for dangerous or inaccessible environments. From nuclear facilities to particle accelerators, autonomous systems are increasingly taking on roles that would be difficult, dangerous, or impossible for humans to perform directly.