AI-powered robots are detecting defects in 'D' grade U.S. infrastructure, including commuter bridges and military hardware.

• Gecko Robotics, a company on the 2024 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, is employing robots and AI to detect and address problems at over 500,000 critical infrastructure worldwide.
• The state of infrastructure in the U.S. is poor, with a need for investment and repair that will cost trillions of dollars, ranging from bridges to military hardware.
• Jake Loosararian, CEO of Gecko Robotics, stated that its wall-climbing robots can assist in maintaining existing infrastructure and accelerate the construction of new designs that are more durable, long-lasting, and cost-effective.

The collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge and an I-95 overpass in Philadelphia were not caused by structural flaws, but rather by a runaway, powerless ocean ship and a tanker fire. These disasters were just the latest examples of an issue that exists across the U.S.: trillions of dollars worth of critical and vulnerable bridges, roads, dams, factories, plants, and machinery that are rapidly aging and require repair.

The Infrastructure Act and other legislation have led to the allocation of significant sums of money to address infrastructure issues, but the way infrastructure is maintained has largely remained unchanged, with most repairs being carried out slowly by humans or after a major problem like a leak or collapse occurs.

Gecko Robotics, ranked No. 42 on the 2024 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, is tackling the national challenge with AI and robots, particularly its wall-climbing bots that conduct inspections on infrastructure and not only identify existing issues but also predict potential solutions to prevent future problems.

"Jake Loosararian, CEO of Gecko Robotics, stated to CNBC's Julia Boorstin that the built world is predominantly made of concrete and metal, especially in the U.S., with structures aged 60 to 70 years old. As a country, the U.S. has a D rating for infrastructure, and upgrading it to a B rating is a $4 trillion to $6 trillion problem. To address this issue, it is crucial to understand what needs to be fixed and target those repairs while avoiding repeating the same mistakes."

Gecko Robotics' technology is currently being employed to monitor over 500,000 of the world's most vital assets, including oil and gas facilities, pipelines, boilers, and tanks at manufacturing facilities, according to Loosararian.

A focus on military hardware, from subs to aircraft carriers

The U.S. military is increasingly utilizing Gecko robots for tasks such as converting missile silos and modernizing manufacturing processes. In 2022, the U.S. Air Force awarded Gecko Robotics a contract for the conversion of missile silos, and last year, the U.S. Navy tapped the company to help modernize the manufacturing process of its Columbia-class nuclear submarine program, using Gecko's robots to conduct inspections of welds.

Gecko Robotics is collaborating with the Navy to inspect aircraft carriers, as showcased on CNBC through a demonstration on the USS Intrepid, a museum in New York City.

Gecko Robotics' analysis of infrastructure was compared to a CAT scan of a human body, and a digital twin of the scanned object was created.

Gecko Robotics technology can collect upwards of 20 million data points in a tenth of the time, compared to the thousands of readings collected by workers historically on an aircraft carrier.

If you're hanging off the side of a ship, it's pretty dangerous due to human error.

The construction and readiness of military hardware are critical issues in an unpredictable world of global threats. For instance, Loosararian stated that China is building ships 232 times faster than the U.S. is due to the vast shipbuilding capacity it possesses.

"Our naval vessels are currently in drydock, and you want them out of drydock or not even in a maintenance cycle," Loosararian stated. "We are using Lidar and ultrasonic sensors to conduct a health scan on these ships, identifying damages and determining how to fix them, so that we can get them out of drydock and back to sea as quickly as possible for patrolling."

Gecko robots' creation of digital twins aids in the construction of future projects, conserving not only time but also resources and capital.

""Building smarter things involves understanding not only how things work daily but also how to identify and address failures in the real world," Loosararian stated."