Aerial Robotic Solution for Detailed Inspection of Viaducts

Abstract

The inspection of public infrastructure, such as viaducts and bridges, is crucial for their proper maintenance given the heavy use of many of them. Current inspection techniques are very costly and manual, requiring highly qualified personnel and involving many risks. This article presents a novel solution for the detailed inspection of viaducts using aerial robotic platforms. The system provides a highly automated visual inspection platform that does not rely on GPS and could even fly underneath the infrastructure. Unlike commercially available solutions, our system automatically references the inspection to a global coordinate system usable throughout the lifespan of the infrastructure. In addition, the system includes another aerial platform with a robotic arm to make contact inspections of detected defects, thus providing information that cannot be obtained only with images. Both aerial robotic platforms feature flexibility in the choice of camera or contact measurement sensors as the situation requires. The system was validated by performing inspection flights on real viaducts.

Aerial Robotics for Inspection and Maintenance: Special Issue Editorial

“…The inspection of bridges [7], viaducts [8], and other civil infrastructures [9] using aerial robots requires the integration of specific sensors and devices, as well as the implementation of perception and navigation methods to conduct the operations in flight with a sufficient level of autonomy and positioning accuracy. The authors in [7] propose the deployment of a team of cooperative aerial robots to install inspection devices on bridges by spraying a resin onto the surface and applying a pushing force to keep the device attached.…”

“…The paper presents the design of the control framework, covering the attitude/position and impedance controllers, the path planning, and the detection and estimation of the marked point. Two different aerial robotic solutions are presented in [8] for the visual and contact inspection of viaducts, where GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) positioning is not possible, requiring the integration of 3D LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) combined with robotic stations to generate accurate maps of the environment. The presented work illustrates the development and integration efforts to increase the TRL (Technology Readiness Level) of aerial robots applied in real inspection scenarios.…”

Multi-Sensor System for Pipe Inspection using an Autonomous Hybrid Aerial Robot

“…Nowadays, one of the fields of application in which Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are growing exponentially is the inspection and maintenance of industrial environments and civil infrastructure. These environments range from refineries to production plants, tunnels or viaducts [1] [2].…”