"Advances in robotics, hardware, and artificial intelligence have combined to make a new vision possible for how infrastructure maintenance and repair is carried out," writes BKC Fellow K. Gretchen Greene. "It's not a big step to imagine robots creeping through the gas and water lines all day and night, mapping their own course, quietly fixing leaks, docking at charging and maintenance stations as needed, like a Roomba underground. Aboveground robots could patrol the roads, the power grid, and the waterways, cleaning up trash and fixing potholes, electrical wires, and bridges or reporting what they can't fix, directing a human crew to the spot."