Episode 2 | March 13, 2024 

Strengthening America's Bridges with AI

What if AI could be used to help repair and rebuild America’s bridges? America’s aging infrastructure is crumbling, and that includes more than 600,000 bridges with nearly 45,000 considered structurally deficient. Millions of people drive across those bridges each day. On this episode, we explore how Artificial Intelligence — including robotics and drones — can help keep our nation’s bridges standing. And how AI can perhaps revolutionize the way bridges are designed and built so they are more cost-efficient, smarter, more durable and eco-friendly. 

Additionally, our guests explore the broader applications of AI in transportation infrastructure and Smart Cities, including an experimental project that uses AI sensors on buses to map out potholes as they drive. Finally, the conversation emphasizes the need for responsible use of AI as a tool to assist human decision-making, not replace it. 

Join guests Dr. Norma Jean Mattei, past president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); Jim Garrett, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Carnegie Mellon University and former head of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Troy Demmer, Gecko Robotics; and Karen Lightman, Executive Director of Metro21: Smart Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.