Autonomous Robotic System using Non-Destructive Evaluation methods for Bridge Deck Inspection

Bridge condition assessment is important to maintain the quality of highway roads for public transport. Bridge deterioration with time is inevitable due to aging material, environmental wear and in some cases, inadequate maintenance. Non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods are preferred for condition assessment for bridges, concrete buildings, and other civil structures. Some examples of NDE methods are ground penetrating radar (GPR), acoustic emission, and electrical resistivity (ER). NDE methods provide the ability to inspect a structure without causing any damage to the structure in the process. In addition, NDE methods typically cost less than other methods, since they do not require inspection sites to be evacuated prior to inspection, which greatly reduces the cost of safety related issues during the inspection process. In this paper, an autonomous robotic system equipped with three different NDE sensors is presented. The system employs GPR, ER, and a camera for data collection. The system is capable of performing real-time, cost-effective bridge deck inspection, and is comprised of a mechanical robot design and machine learning and pattern recognition methods for automated steel rebar picking to provide realtime condition maps of the corrosive deck environments

Miniature mobile sensor platforms for condition monitoring of structures

In this paper, a wireless, multisensor inspection system for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of materials is described. The sensor configuration enables two inspection modes-magnetic (flux leakage and eddy current) and noncontact ultrasound. Each is designed to function in a complementary manner, maximizing the potential for detection of both surface and internal defects. Particular emphasis is placed on the generic architecture of a novel, intelligent sensor platform, and its positioning on the structure under test. The sensor units are capable of wireless communication with a remote host computer, which controls manipulation and data interpretation. Results are presented in the form of automatic scans with different NDE sensors in a series of experiments on thin plate structures. To highlight the advantage of utilizing multiple inspection modalities, data fusion approaches are employed to combine data collected by complementary sensor systems. Fusion of data is shown to demonstrate the potential for improved inspection reliability

Roller Chain-Like Robot for Steel Bridge Inspection

This paper presents a novel design of steel bridge/structure inspection robot. Compared to most existing robots designed to work on particular surface contour of steel structures such as flat or curving, the proposed roller chain-like robot can implement and transfer smoothly on many kind of steel surfaces. The developed robot can be applied to inspection tasks for steel bridges with complicated structures. The robot is able to carry cameras, sensors for visual and specialized examination. Rigorous analysis of robot kinematics, adhesion force and turn-over failure has been conducted to demonstrate the stability of the proposed design. Mechanical and magnetic force analysis together with turn-over failure investigation can serve as an useful framework for designing various steel climbing robots in the future. Experimental results and field deployments prove the adhesion, climbing, inspection capability of the developed robot

An improved robot for bridge inspection

This paper presents a significant improvement from the previous submission from the same authors at ISARC 2016. The robot is now equipped with low-cost cameras and a 2D laser scanner which is used to monitor and survey a bridge bearing. The robot is capable of localising by combining a data from a pre-surveyed 3D model of the space with real-time data collection in-situ. Autonomous navigation is also performed using the 2D laser scanner in a mapped environment. The Robot Operating System (ROS) framework is used to integrate data collection and communication for navigation