7,053 research outputs found
Importance and applications of robotic and autonomous systems (RAS) in railway maintenance sector: a review
Maintenance, which is critical for safe, reliable, quality, and cost-effective service, plays a dominant role in the railway industry. Therefore, this paper examines the importance and applications of Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) in railway maintenance. More than 70 research publications, which are either in practice or under investigation describing RAS developments in the railway maintenance, are analysed. It has been found that the majority of RAS developed are for rolling-stock maintenance, followed by railway track maintenance. Further, it has been found that there is growing interest and demand for robotics and autonomous systems in the railway maintenance sector, which is largely due to the increased competition, rapid expansion and ever-increasing expense
Cooperative UAV–UGV autonomous power pylon inspection: an investigation of cooperative outdoor vehicle positioning architecture
Realizing autonomous inspection, such as that of power distribution lines, through unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) systems is a key research domain in robotics. In particular, the use of autonomous
and semi-autonomous vehicles to execute the tasks of an inspection process can enhance the efficacy
and safety of the operation; however, many technical problems, such as those pertaining to the precise
positioning and path following of the vehicles, robust obstacle detection, and intelligent control, must be
addressed. In this study, an innovative architecture involving an unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) and an
unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) was examined for detailed inspections of power lines. In the proposed
strategy, each vehicle provides its position information to the other, which ensures a safe inspection
process. The results of real-world experiments indicate a satisfactory performance, thereby demonstrating
the feasibility of the proposed approach.This research was funded by National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development of Brazil (CNPq).
The authors thank the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development of Brazil
(CNPq); Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Level People (CAPES); and the Brazilian Ministry of Science,
Technology, Innovation, and Communication (MCTIC). The authors would also like express their deepest gratitude
to Control Robotics for sharing the Pioneer P3 robot for the experiments. Thanks to Leticia Cantieri for editing the
experiment video.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Visual servoing of an autonomous helicopter in urban areas using feature tracking
We present the design and implementation of a vision-based feature tracking system for an autonomous helicopter. Visual sensing is used for estimating the position and velocity of features in the image plane (urban features like windows) in order to generate velocity references for the flight control. These visual-based references are then combined with GPS-positioning references to navigate towards these features and then track them. We present results from experimental flight trials, performed in two UAV systems and under different conditions that show the feasibility and robustness of our approach
Study of artificial intelligence and computer vision methods for tracking transmission lines with the AID of UAVs
Currently, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been used in the most diverse applications
in both the civil and military sectors. In the civil sector, aerial inspection services
have been gaining a lot of attention, especially in the case of inspections of high voltage
electrical systems transmission lines. This type of inspection involves a helicopter carrying
three or more people (technicians, pilot, etc.) flying over the transmission line along its
entire length which is a dangerous service especially due to the proximity of the transmission
line and possible environmental conditions (wind gusts, for example). In this context,
the use of UAVs has shown considerable interest due to their low cost and safety for
transmission line inspection technicians. This work presents research results related to the
application of UAVs for transmission lines inspection, autonomously, allowing the identification
of invasions of the transmission line area as well as possible defects in components
(cables, insulators, connection, etc.) through the use of Convolutional Neural Networks
(CNN) for fault detection and identification. This thesis proposes the development of an
autonomous system to track power transmission lines using UAVs efficiently and with low
implementation and operation costs, based exclusively on rea-time image processing that
identifies the structure of the towers and transmission lines durin the flight and controls
the aircraft´s movements, guiding it along the closest possible path. A sumary of the work
developed will be presented in the next sections.Atualmente, os Veículos Aéreos Não Tripulados – VANTs têm sido utilizados nas mais
diversas aplicações tanto no setor civil quanto militar. No setor civil, os serviços de inspeção
aérea vêm ganhando bastante atenção, principalmente no caso de inspeções de
linhas de transmissão de sistemas elétricos de alta tensão. Este tipo de inspeção envolve
um helicóptero transportando três ou mais pessoas (técnicos, pilotos, etc.) sobrevoando a
linha de transmissão em toda a sua extensão, o que constitui um serviço perigoso principalmente
pela proximidade da linha de transmissão e possíveis condições ambientais (rajadas
de vento, por exemplo). Neste contexto, a utilização de VANTs tem demonstrado
considerável interesse devido ao seu baixo custo e segurança para técnicos de inspeção
de linhas de transmissão. Este trabalho apresenta resultados de pesquisas relacionadas à
aplicação de VANTs para inspeção de linhas de transmissão, de forma autônoma, permitindo
a identificação de invasões da área da linha de transmissão bem como possíveis
defeitos em componentes (cabos, isoladores, conexões, etc.) através do uso de Convolucional.
Redes Neurais - CNN para detecção e identificação de falhas. Esta tese propõe
o desenvolvimento de um sistema autônomo para rastreamento de linhas de transmissão
de energia utilizando VANTs de forma eficiente e com baixos custos de implantação e
operação, baseado exclusivamente no processamento de imagens em tempo real que identifica
a estrutura das torres e linhas de transmissão durante o voo e controla a velocidade
da aeronave. movimentos, guiando-o pelo caminho mais próximo possível. Um resumo do
trabalho desenvolvido será apresentado nas próximas seções
Proposal of an augmented reality tag uav positioning system for power line tower inspection
Autonomous inspection Unmanned Aerial Vehicle systems
are an essential research area, including power line distribution inspection.
Considerable efforts to solve the demanding presented in the
autonomous U AV inspection process are present in technical and scientific
research. One of these challenges is the precise positioning and fly
control of the U AV around the energy structures, which is vital to assure
the security of the operation. The most common techniques to achieve
precise positioning in UAV fly are Global Positioning Systems with RealTime
Kinematic. This technique demands a proper satellite signal receiving
to work appropriately, sometimes hard to achieve. The present work
proposes a complementary position data system based on augmented
reality tags (AR Tags) to increase the reliability of the UAV fly positioning
system. The system application is proposed for energy power tower
inspections as an example of use. The adaptation to other inspection
tasks is possible whit some small changes. Experimental results have
shown that an increase in the position accuracy is accomplished with
the use of this schema.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
- …