\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSMUD has unveiled Astro, a robotic dog equipped with cutting-edge technology, to help prevent power outages and protect the city\u2019s electrical grid. \u201cIt\u2019s fun being on the forefront of technology,\u201d SMUD employee Edward Anguiano said. Astro is part of a three-year pilot program aimed at improving reliability across SMUD\u2019s 270 substations. \u201cHe\u2019s extremely mobile, rocks, gravel, mud, snow\u2014he could go upstairs and downstairs,\u201d SMUD’s Director of Substations Eric Poff. Astro\u2019s handler, Anguiano, travels everywhere with him. \u201cYou can call me the robot handler,\u201d Anguiano added. \u201cI program his points of inspections and what he is going to look at and how he is going to get there. All of our substations are different, so he needs a map of how he is going to maneuver that substation.\u201d Astro is equipped with advanced sensors, including a 4K camera, an infrared camera, and a partial discharge sensor. \u201cSo he has 16 different microphones, and what it will do is shoot sound waves, and it can detect where there is an anomaly in the sound waves,\u201d Poff said.Astro\u2019s technology allows him to search for threats invisible to the human eye, helping SMUD identify potential issues before they lead to equipment failure. \u201cIf we can find that before it fails, then we are improving reliability,\u201d Poff said. Astro isn\u2019t just helping to keep the power on\u2014he\u2019s the first robotic dog to work for a utility company in California. \u201cThe time and age we are in is the future,\u201d Anguiano joked.SMUD is already planning to expand its robotic team, with two more robots named Elroy and Judy set to join Astro soon. \u201cWe\u2019re excited about what we\u2019ve seen so far,\u201d Poff said. \u201cWe\u2019re staying with the Jetsons theme. We\u2019re bringing on Elroy and Judy here.\u201d At roughly $300,000 each, these robotic recruits are a significant investment, but SMUD believes the cost is justified. \u201cIf we can find something before a failure of this equipment early, it really pays for itself,\u201d Poff added. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tSACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
SMUD has unveiled Astro, a robotic dog equipped with cutting-edge technology, to help prevent power outages and protect the city\u2019s electrical grid. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fun being on the forefront of technology,\u201d SMUD employee Edward Anguiano said. <\/p>\n
Astro is part of a three-year pilot program aimed at improving reliability across SMUD\u2019s 270 substations. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s extremely mobile, rocks, gravel, mud, snow\u2014he could go upstairs and downstairs,\u201d SMUD’s Director of Substations Eric Poff. <\/p>\n
Astro\u2019s handler, Anguiano, travels everywhere with him. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can call me the robot handler,\u201d Anguiano added. \u201cI program his points of inspections and what he is going to look at and how he is going to get there. All of our substations are different, so he needs a map of how he is going to maneuver that substation.\u201d <\/p>\n
Astro is equipped with advanced sensors, including a 4K camera, an infrared camera, and a partial discharge sensor. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo he has 16 different microphones, and what it will do is shoot sound waves, and it can detect where there is an anomaly in the sound waves,\u201d Poff said.<\/p>\n
Astro\u2019s technology allows him to search for threats invisible to the human eye, helping SMUD identify potential issues before they lead to equipment failure. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can find that before it fails, then we are improving reliability,\u201d Poff said. <\/p>\n
Astro isn\u2019t just helping to keep the power on\u2014he\u2019s the first robotic dog to work for a utility company in California. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe time and age we are in is the future,\u201d Anguiano joked.<\/p>\n
SMUD is already planning to expand its robotic team, with two more robots named Elroy and Judy set to join Astro soon. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited about what we\u2019ve seen so far,\u201d Poff said. \u201cWe\u2019re staying with the Jetsons theme. We\u2019re bringing on Elroy and Judy here.\u201d <\/p>\n
At roughly $300,000 each, these robotic recruits are a significant investment, but SMUD believes the cost is justified. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can find something before a failure of this equipment early, it really pays for itself,\u201d Poff added. <\/p>\n
See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SMUD has unveiled Astro, a robotic dog equipped with cutting-edge technology, to help prevent power outages and protect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[152543,152538,152542,23615,9148,152544,152547,77431,57410,152540,152545,152541,97677,117911,152539,121,123,122,22778,152546,56413],"class_list":["post-376772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-anguiano","tag-astro","tag-cutting-edge-technology","tag-download","tag-electrical-grid","tag-elroy","tag-equipment-failure","tag-handler","tag-judy","tag-meet-smud","tag-new-robot-dog-astro","tag-poff","tag-reliability","tag-robot-dog","tag-robotic-dog","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-smud","tag-sound-wave","tag-substation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}