MIT Researchers Send Robots Into Sewers To Monitor City Dwellers’ Waste

"Beneath the streets of Boston, two robots named Mario and Luigi inspect the flow of human waste, collecting data on city residents.

The robots are part of the new MIT Underworlds project, which mines urban sewage for information about human health and behavior—a previously untapped resource that could shape the future of epidemiology, say researchers.

Launched by the Senseable City Lab last July, Underworlds could help scientists predict outbreaks, understand causes of chronic diseases and, in mapping the health of different socio-economic brackets in cities, contribute to solution-development and policy-making."

Livia Albeck-Ripka reports for Quartz July 30, 2016.