Topological Robot Localization in a Pipe Network

Worley, Rob; Anderson, Sean

doi:10.31256/zw1wq5m

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…This is especially applicable to the pipe environment, where the precise position of buried pipes may be unknown, but their connectivity can be assumed if the system is functioning as intended. Topological maps have been used in algorithms developed for localization in pipes [161], [162].…”

Section: Topological Mapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping for Inspection Robots in Water and Sewer Pipe Networks: A Review

et al. 2021

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At the present time, water and sewer pipe networks are predominantly inspected manually. In the near future, smart cities will perform intelligent autonomous monitoring of buried pipe networks, using teams of small robots. These robots, equipped with all necessary computational facilities and sensors (optical, acoustic, inertial, thermal, pressure and others) will be able to inspect pipes whilst navigating, selflocalising and communicating information about the pipe condition and faults such as leaks or blockages to human operators for monitoring and decision support. The predominantly manual inspection of pipe networks will be replaced with teams of autonomous inspection robots that can operate for long periods of time over a large spatial scale. Reliable autonomous navigation and reporting of faults at this scale requires effective localization and mapping, which is the estimation of the robot's position and its surrounding environment. This survey presents an overview of state-of-the-art works on robot simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) with a focus on water and sewer pipe networks. It considers various aspects of the SLAM problem in pipes, from the motivation, to the water industry requirements, modern SLAM methods, map-types and sensors suited to pipes. Future challenges such as robustness for long term robot operation in pipes are discussed, including how making use of prior knowledge, e.g. geographic information systems (GIS) can be used to build map estimates, and improve the multi-robot SLAM in the pipe environment.

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Section: Topological Mapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping for Inspection Robots in Water and Sewer Pipe Networks: A Review

et al. 2021

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“…1. The full robot state is defined as s xtxt−1θt = [x t , x t−1 , θ t ] and is composed of three components, facilitating localization of the robot [18]. The first component is the robot's discrete position, which is the junction index x at time index t. The second is the robot's discrete direction θ t which is the index of the pipe which is has arrived from, allowing information about the robot's choice of action to be used in localization.…”

Section: State Definitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The work presented in this paper presents an incorporation of measurement of distance into the localization method, and improvements to the accuracy and efficiency of the method from previous work [18]. Simulation on a large realistic network of pipes has been used to compare the proposed methods with a typical topological localization method.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topological Robot Localization in a Large-Scale Water Pipe Network

Worley

Anderson

2020

Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems

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“…Obstructions in pipes are sometimes spotted by the insertion of probes equipped with cameras or even manually in poor areas but is most often avoided because of the costs needed for the operation; long sections of pipes are replaced straight away. Buried white-water pipe infrastructures are regularly in need of maintenance, the cost of which may be significantly reduced by more precisely locating faults by means of in-pipe robots as reported, for example, in [2]. Several approaches and prototypes have been proposed, such as those based on wheeled locomotion [3], crawler locomotion [4], caterpillar locomotion [5], wall-press locomotion [6], walking locomotion [7], inchworm locomotion [8], screw locomotion [9], and spiral locomotion [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of PEIS: A Low-Cost Pipe Inspector Robot

et al. 2021

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This paper outlines the design of a novel mechatronic system for semi-automatic inspection and white-water in-pipe obstruction removals without the need for destructive methods or specialized manpower. The device is characterized by a lightweight structure and high transportability. It is composed by a front, a rear and a central module that realize the worm-like locomotion of the robot with a specifically designed driving mechanism for the straight motion of the robot along the pipeline. The proposed mechatronic system is easily adaptable to pipes of various sizes. Each module is equipped with a motor that actuates three slider-crank-based mechanisms. The central module incorporates a length-varying mechanism that allows forward and backward locomotion. The device is equipped with specific low-cost sensors that allow an operator to monitor the device and locate an obstruction in real time. The movement of the device can be automatic or controlled manually by using a specific user-friendly control board and a laptop. Preliminary laboratory tests are reported to demonstrate the engineering feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed design, which is currently under patenting.

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Topological Robot Localization in a Pipe Network

Cited by 3 publications

References 3 publications

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping for Inspection Robots in Water and Sewer Pipe Networks: A Review

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping for Inspection Robots in Water and Sewer Pipe Networks: A Review

Topological Robot Localization in a Large-Scale Water Pipe Network

Design of PEIS: A Low-Cost Pipe Inspector Robot

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