Meet EMILY, MDOT's remote-controlled boat that inspects bridge damage Published EMILY, or EMergency Integrated LanYard, helps Michigan's civil engineers perform bridge inspections (Michigan Department of Transportation) Its name is EMILY and it was just named a "gamechanger" in the world of infrastructure. That's according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, which placed MDOT's use of EMILY, a remote-controlled boat that helps infrastructure inspections on bridges on its list of 2021 Infrastructure Gamechangers. Among the state's most notable places that EMILY visited were along the flooded rivers of mid-Michigan during a massive flooding event last year. ''Even while water levels were still on the rise in the flooded areas, we were able to get EMILY in the water to determine if scour was getting worse in some locations,'' said MDOT Bay Region Bridge Engineer Paul Schiefer. ''After water levels stabilized, we were able to use the system again to confirm again that there were no scour issues that needed to be addressed before opening a bridge to traffic.''