Optimizing Inspection Routes in Pipeline Networks

•When using robotics for pipeline inspections, the limitations of these tools must be considered when selecting the inspection route.•An exact mathematical formulation of this optimization problem is presented, and five solution methods are explored.•When allowable path lengths are short a graphical search technique is the most efficient.•Integer programming approach is most effective when the allowable path length is long.•Data preprocessing is effective in reducing the computation cost of the problem, and allows us to find near-optimal paths.