Development of a Bridge Inspection Robot Capable of Traveling on Splicing Parts

Abstract

Several infrastructures, such as bridges and tunnels, require periodic inspection and repair to prevent collapse. There is a strong demand for practical bridge inspection robots to reduce the cost and time associated with the inspection of bridges by an inspector. Bridge inspection robots are expected to pass through obstacles such as bolted splice part and right-angled routes. The aim of this study involved developing a bridge inspection robot that can travel on a right-angle path as well as splicing parts. A two-wheel-drive robot was developed and equipped with two rimless wheels as driving wheels. A neodymium magnet was provided at the tip of each spoke. Non-driving wheels were attached at the rear as a rotatable caster. The robot can turn on the spot to avoid the bolt on the splicing part. Experiments were conducted to check the performance of the robot. The results confirmed that the robot passed through the internal right-angle paths in a laboratory and in an actual environment that corresponds to a box girder of a bridge. It is extremely difficult to manually control a robot on the splicing part. Therefore, a camera and an LED (light emitting diode) were attached to autonomously control the robot. The results indicate that the newly developed robot could run through the splicing part without hitting the nuts.

Development of Magnetic Bridge Inspection Robot Aimed at Carrying Heavy Loads

“…However, they can examine only a small portion of the desired inspection area, such as flat sections or deck sections. We have designed and built various magnetic robots that can inspect a variety of areas [10,11]. These robots can travel on complex three-dimensional paths because they are equipped with magnetic, rimless wheels.…”

Robot-Inclusive False Ceiling Design Guidelines

“…The BIREM robot [43] was designed to inspect the splicing parts of bridges, utilising magnetic wheels to adhere to structures of steel bridges. Its deployment is heavily dependent on its ability to adsorb onto steel surfaces through the use of wheels with attached magnets.…”

Localization Method Based on Image Processing for Autonomous Driving of Mobile Robot in the Linear Infrastructure

“…In recent times, various robots are being developed as bridge inspection robots [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. There are various types of robots, such as flying, suspension, and adsorption types, but they are mainly divided into flying and adsorption types [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Among them, the flying robot has a problem in that it is difficult to control because its balance is easily affected by disturbances such as wind and contact with the bridge.…”