CERN sends AI-trained robot mice scurrying through LHC beam pipesCERN sends AI-trained robot mice scurrying through LHC beam pipes

Bots hunt deformed RF contacts inside the collider's 27 km vacuum tubes

The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and CERN have jointly developed a "mouse-sized robot" to inspect parts of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that are out of reach to humans.

Named "PipeINEER," from "pipe" and "pioneer," the 3.7 cm wide (about 1.5 in) robot sadly looks nothing like a mouse, though it was designed to trundle autonomously through long, narrow pipes, which perhaps made the designers think of a rodent.



The pipes in this case run the 27 km (approximately 16.8 miles) circumference of the LHC, which straddles the border between France and Switzerland, near Geneva.

These are the pipes that carry the actual particle beams that are surrounded by superconducting magnets at -271°C (-455°F) while also operating under high vacuum conditions. Add in their position deep within the infrastructure, and this makes human access and inspection extremely challenging.

The inspections are needed as the LHC contains about 2,000 plug-in modules (PIMs) to handle the expansion and contraction caused by the extremes of temperature and pressure. However, small components within the modules – thin radio frequency "fingers" designed to maintain electrical contact – can become deformed and cause obstructions inside the beamline.

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