The focus on rapid software delivery inevitably results in the accumulation of technical debt, which, in turn, affects quality and slows future development. Our primary aim is to discover how companies keep their codebases maintainable and how code improvements might be automated. Method: we investigate Meta practices by collaborating with engineers on code quality (via action research) and by analyzing rich source code change history using mixed-methods to reveal a range of practices used for continual improvement of the codebase. Results: Code improvements at Meta range from completely organic grass-roots done at the initiative of individual engineers, to regularly blocked time and engagement via gamification of Better Engineering (BE) work, to major explicit initiatives aimed at reengineering the complex parts of the codebase or deleting accumulations of dead code. Over 14% of changes are explicitly devoted to code improvement and the developers are given "badges" to acknowledge the type of work and the amount of effort. Based on the interactions with development teams we suggest metrics to help prioritization of code improvement efforts. Finally, our models of the impact of reengineering activities revealed substantial improvements in quality and speed and reductions in code complexity. Overall, code improvement activities are relatively effort intensive yet simple enough to be prime targets for automation.

Even if UAVs undoubtedly had a profound effect on the visual inspection capabilities of transmission lines, rolling robots, especially for bundled configurations, will still play an extensive role in the maintenance of these strategic assets. As such, LineRanger is among the most efficient and capable wheeled platform, that can travel at an average speed of 8 km/h. In this paper, LineRanger mechanical design insights are shared, unfolding how strictly mechanical solutions deals with ease of obstacle crossing, ease of installation procedure without requiring any linemen to access the high voltage environment area, and ease of deployment of dedicated, custom-made sensors onto the line component of interest. This novel robotic platform is now being deployed onto Hydro-Quebec power grid network, performing high value applications.

Robotic platforms dedicated to powerline inspection are often complex to operate, take several minutes to cross any obstacle, and must be operated by highly trained specialists. To further its goal of massive inspection of its power grid, Hydro-Québec developed an innovative robot that is simple to operate and can be used directly by line maintenance technicians. LineRanger was developed following the field deployment of LineROVer and LineScout but aims at surpassing them in terms of inspection efficiency. With an ingenious and passive obstacle-crossing system, this new robot allows large-scale inspection of bundled-type powerlines, since the obstacle crossing time is considerably reduced. In this paper, details on the robot's key features are presented along with its mathematical analysis, which guarantees its stability on flexible bundles and directly influenced the design. Finally, the LineRanger prototype is presented, with insights about its first field deployments.