Smart bridges, safer futures: Roebling Labs and Bentley Systems partner to monitor aging infrastructure
Roebling Labs
When Scott of Roebling Labs explains his company’s mission, his words carry both urgency and vision: “We detect structural damage and overloading of bridges by monitoring with computer vision, starting with America’s 40,000 structurally deficient and at-risk bridges.”
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Roebling Labs emerged from The Engine, a startup accelerator linked with MIT. Its focus is both simple and disruptive: using video as a sensor to continuously monitor bridge health. Unlike traditional inspection methods, which leave bridges “blind” for 99.9% of the time, Roebling’s system turns every pixel of a video feed into a virtual sensor. This allows bridge owners to see structural behavior in real time—deflections, vibrations, and early signs of failure that human eyes might miss.
Why most structurally deficient bridges still go unmonitored
With more than 600,000 highway bridges in the United States—and 40,000 rated in poor condition—traditional approaches to inspection and monitoring aren’t enough. “In 2020, only 66 bridges in the U.S. had structural health monitoring systems installed. And often, those were brand-new showcase bridges—exactly the ones least in need of it,” Scott highlighted.
Roebling Labs flips that model. Their Smart Bridge in a Box concept is designed to be affordable, scalable, and deployable on the bridges that need it most—the aging structures that carry millions of people every day.
Early demonstrations, including work on Minnesota’s Robert Street Bridge—a Bentley iTwin demonstration project—show how video-based monitoring can integrate seamlessly with Bentley’s digital twin technology. By layering Roebling’s video sensor data onto a 3D model in iTwin, bridge managers could one day draw a sensor directly into their model and receive live updates within days.
This vision of integration is why Roebling Labs joined the Bentley iTwin Activate program and embraced the Bentley Ecosystem Catalog, which offers a range of solutions developed by partners that extend the functionality of Bentley products or platforms, including SaaS offerings, desktop applications, or plug-ins. “We view Bentley as a valuable distribution partner,” Scott said. “Bridge owners already work with Bentley software—why not make it as easy as clicking a button in their digital twin to add live monitoring?”
How Bentley’s ecosystem helps startups scale infrastructure solutions
For Roebling Labs, becoming part of Bentley’s ecosystem is not just about visibility—it’s about multiplying impact. By joining the Bentley Solutions Catalog, their innovation reaches bridge owners already familiar with Bentley platforms, making adoption easier and faster. At the same time, Bentley enriches its offerings with a new layer of innovation that responds directly to urgent market needs. And for the industry as a whole, this collaboration lowers barriers to adopting advanced monitoring, turning what could be an isolated startup solution into a shared capability across infrastructure projects.
Scott compares it to the rise of app stores. “Bentley provides the platform and the relationships with infrastructure owners,” he explained. “That makes it possible for startups like us to innovate faster and bring real solutions to the industry—just like the App Store did for software.” The implications extend beyond the U.S. In regions where resources for infrastructure maintenance are scarce, an affordable, portable monitoring system could make the difference between preventive repair and catastrophic failure.
High-Tech Monitoring for a Safer World
Our ambition is to make high-tech monitoring feasible everywhere, that means safer bridges, fewer accidents, and lower maintenance costs for taxpayers.
— Scott Snelling, CEO and Founder, Roebling Labs
Expanding adoption through visibility and pilots
For Roebling Labs, success in the coming year will be about awareness and adoption. Demonstrations, pilot projects, and visibility through Bentley’s ecosystem will help prove the value of this innovative approach. “For each bridge owner that reaches out after seeing our solution in the catalog, it’s win-win,” Scott noted.
With that mindset, Roebling Labs isn’t just building smarter bridges—it’s helping to build a safer, more resilient infrastructure future, hand in hand with Bentley and its ecosystem of innovation
Find Find Roebling Labs in the Bentley Ecosystem Catalog, a growing ecosystem of solutions designed to simplify workflows, reduce risk, and accelerate sustainable infrastructure delivery.
