27 results on '"Inspection robotics"'
Search Results
2. Evaluation
- Author
-
Kudriashov, Andrii, Buratowski, Tomasz, Giergiel, Mariusz, Małka, Piotr, Ceccarelli, Marco, Series Editor, Hernandez, Alfonso, Editorial Board Member, Huang, Tian, Editorial Board Member, Takeda, Yukio, Editorial Board Member, Corves, Burkhard, Editorial Board Member, Agrawal, Sunil, Editorial Board Member, Kudriashov, Andrii, Buratowski, Tomasz, Giergiel, Mariusz, and Małka, Piotr
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. Belt Conveyors Rollers Diagnostics Based on Acoustic Signal Collected Using Autonomous Legged Inspection Robot.
- Author
-
Skoczylas, Artur, Stefaniak, Paweł, Anufriiev, Sergii, Jachnik, Bartosz, Carpanzano, Emanuele, and García, Oscar Reinoso
- Subjects
CONVEYOR belts ,BELT conveyors ,AUTONOMOUS robots ,RAW materials ,ROBOTS - Abstract
Growing demand for raw materials forces mining companies to reach deeper deposits. Difficult environmental conditions, especially high temperature and the presence of toxic/explosives gases, as well as high seismic activity in deeply located areas, pose serious threats to humans. In such conditions, running an exploration strategy of machinery parks becomes a difficult challenge, especially from the point of view of technical facilities inspections performed by mining staff. Therefore, there is a growing need for new, reliable, and autonomous inspection solutions for mining infrastructure, which will limit the role of people in these areas. In this article, a method for detection of conveyor rollers failure based on an acoustic signal is described. The data were collected using an ANYmal autonomous legged robot inspecting conveyors operating at the Polish Ore Enrichment Plant of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., a global producer of copper and silver. As a part of an experiment, about 100 m of operating belt conveyor were inspected. The sound-based fault detection in the plant conditions is not a trivial task, given a considerable level of sonic disturbance produced by a plurality of sources. Additionally, some disturbances partially coincide with the studied phenomenon. Therefore, a suitable filtering method was proposed. Developed diagnostic algorithms, as well as ANYmal robot inspection functionalities and resistance to underground conditions, are developed as a part of the "THING–subTerranean Haptic INvestiGator" project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. An Automatic Procedure for Overheated Idler Detection in Belt Conveyors Using Fusion of Infrared and RGB Images Acquired during UGV Robot Inspection
- Author
-
Przemyslaw Dabek, Jaroslaw Szrek, Radoslaw Zimroz, and Jacek Wodecki
- Subjects
image analysis ,hot spot detection ,image fusion ,inspection robotics ,belt conveyor ,Technology - Abstract
Complex mechanical systems used in the mining industry for efficient raw materials extraction require proper maintenance. Especially in a deep underground mine, the regular inspection of machines operating in extremely harsh conditions is challenging, thus, monitoring systems and autonomous inspection robots are becoming more and more popular. In the paper, it is proposed to use a mobile unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) platform equipped with various data acquisition systems for supporting inspection procedures. Although maintenance staff with appropriate experience are able to identify problems almost immediately, due to mentioned harsh conditions such as temperature, humidity, poisonous gas risk, etc., their presence in dangerous areas is limited. Thus, it is recommended to use inspection robots collecting data and appropriate algorithms for their processing. In this paper, the authors propose red-green-blue (RGB) and infrared (IR) image fusion to detect overheated idlers. An original procedure for image processing is proposed, that exploits some characteristic features of conveyors to pre-process the RGB image to minimize non-informative components in the pictures collected by the robot. Then, the authors use this result for IR image processing to improve SNR and finally detect hot spots in IR image. The experiments have been performed on real conveyors operating in industrial conditions.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. An Inspection Robot for Belt Conveyor Maintenance in Underground Mine—Infrared Thermography for Overheated Idlers Detection.
- Author
-
Szrek, Jarosław, Wodecki, Jacek, Błażej, Ryszard, and Zimroz, Radoslaw
- Subjects
CONVEYOR belts ,BELT conveyors ,MAINTENANCE ,THERMOGRAPHY ,ROBOT control systems ,INSPECTION & review - Abstract
It is well known that mechanical systems require supervision and maintenance procedures. There are a lot of condition monitoring techniques that are commonly used, and in the era of IoT and predictive maintenance one may find plenty of solutions for various applications. Unfortunately in the case of belt conveyors used in underground mining a list of possible solutions shrinks quickly. The reason is that they are specific mechanical systems—the typical conveyor is located in the mining tunnel and its length may vary between 100 and 1000 m. According to mining regulations, visual inspection of the conveyor route should be done before it will start the operation. On the other hand, since environmental conditions in mining tunnels are extremely harsh and the risk of accidents is high, there is a tendency to minimize human presence in the tunnels. In this paper, we propose a prototype of an inspection robot based on a UGV platform that could support maintenance staff during the inspection. At present, the robot is controlled by an operator using radio however, we plan to make it autonomous. Moreover, its support could be significant—the robot can "see" elements of the conveyor route (RGB camera) and can identify hot spots using infrared thermography. Moreover, the detected hot spots could be localized and its position can be stored together with both types of images. In parallel, it is possible to preview images in a real-time and stored data allow analysing state of conveyor system after the inspection mission. It is also important that due to radio control systems, an operator can stay in a safe place. Such a robot can be classified as a mobile monitoring system for spatially distributed underground infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. Falcon: A False Ceiling Inspection Robot
- Author
-
M. A. Viraj J. Muthugala, Koppaka Ganesh Sai Apuroop, Saurav Ghante Anantha Padmanabha, S. M. Bhagya P. Samarakoon, Mohan Rajesh Elara, and Raymond Yeong Wei Wen
- Subjects
false ceiling inspection ,inspection robotics ,perimeter following ,building maintenance ,Chemical technology ,TP1-1185 - Abstract
Frequent inspections are essential for false ceilings to maintain the service infrastructures, such as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, and the structure of false ceilings. Human-labor-based conventional inspection procedures for false ceilings suffer many shortcomings, including safety concerns. Thus, robot-aided solutions are demanded for false ceiling inspections similar to other building maintenance services. However, less work has been conducted on developing robot-aided solutions for false ceiling inspections. This paper proposes a novel design for a robot intended for false ceiling inspections named Falcon. The compact size and the tracked wheel design of the robot allow it to traverse obstacles such as runners and lighting fixtures. The robot’s ability to autonomously follow the perimeter of a false ceiling can improve the productivity of the inspection process since the heading of the robot often changes due to the nature of the terrain, and continuous heading correction is an overhead for a teleoperator. Therefore, a Perimeter-Following Controller (PFC) based on fuzzy logic was integrated into the robot. Experimental results obtained by deploying a prototype of the robot design to a false ceiling testbed confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed PFC in perimeter following and the robot’s features, such as the ability to traverse on runners and fixtures in a false ceiling.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
7. Raptor: A Design of a Drain Inspection Robot
- Author
-
M. A. Viraj J. Muthugala, Povendhan Palanisamy, S. M. Bhagya P. Samarakoon, Saurav Ghante Anantha Padmanabha, Mohan Rajesh Elara, and Dylan Ng Terntzer
- Subjects
drain inspection ,inspection robotics ,reconfigurable robotics ,navigation control ,public health and safety ,Chemical technology ,TP1-1185 - Abstract
Frequent inspections are essential for drains to maintain proper function to ensure public health and safety. Robots have been developed to aid the drain inspection process. However, existing robots designed for drain inspection require improvements in their design and autonomy. This paper proposes a novel design of a drain inspection robot named Raptor. The robot has been designed with a manually reconfigurable wheel axle mechanism, which allows the change of ground clearance height. Design aspects of the robot, such as mechanical design, control architecture and autonomy functions, are comprehensively described in the paper, and insights are included. Maintaining the robot’s position in the middle of a drain when moving along the drain is essential for the inspection process. Thus, a fuzzy logic controller has been introduced to the robot to cater to this demand. Experiments have been conducted by deploying a prototype of the design to drain environments considering a set of diverse test scenarios. Experiment results show that the proposed controller effectively maintains the robot in the middle of a drain while moving along the drain. Therefore, the proposed robot design and the controller would be helpful in improving the productivity of robot-aided inspection of drains.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
8. Belt Conveyors Rollers Diagnostics Based on Acoustic Signal Collected Using Autonomous Legged Inspection Robot
- Author
-
Artur Skoczylas, Paweł Stefaniak, Sergii Anufriiev, and Bartosz Jachnik
- Subjects
inspection robotics ,diagnostics ,conveyor ,deep mine ,mining transport ,Technology ,Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) ,TA1-2040 ,Biology (General) ,QH301-705.5 ,Physics ,QC1-999 ,Chemistry ,QD1-999 - Abstract
Growing demand for raw materials forces mining companies to reach deeper deposits. Difficult environmental conditions, especially high temperature and the presence of toxic/explosives gases, as well as high seismic activity in deeply located areas, pose serious threats to humans. In such conditions, running an exploration strategy of machinery parks becomes a difficult challenge, especially from the point of view of technical facilities inspections performed by mining staff. Therefore, there is a growing need for new, reliable, and autonomous inspection solutions for mining infrastructure, which will limit the role of people in these areas. In this article, a method for detection of conveyor rollers failure based on an acoustic signal is described. The data were collected using an ANYmal autonomous legged robot inspecting conveyors operating at the Polish Ore Enrichment Plant of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., a global producer of copper and silver. As a part of an experiment, about 100 m of operating belt conveyor were inspected. The sound-based fault detection in the plant conditions is not a trivial task, given a considerable level of sonic disturbance produced by a plurality of sources. Additionally, some disturbances partially coincide with the studied phenomenon. Therefore, a suitable filtering method was proposed. Developed diagnostic algorithms, as well as ANYmal robot inspection functionalities and resistance to underground conditions, are developed as a part of the “THING–subTerranean Haptic INvestiGator” project.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
9. An Inspection Robot for Belt Conveyor Maintenance in Underground Mine—Infrared Thermography for Overheated Idlers Detection
- Author
-
Jarosław Szrek, Jacek Wodecki, Ryszard Błażej, and Radoslaw Zimroz
- Subjects
inspection robotics ,underground mining ,belt conveyor ,damaged idler ,infrared thermography ,Technology ,Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) ,TA1-2040 ,Biology (General) ,QH301-705.5 ,Physics ,QC1-999 ,Chemistry ,QD1-999 - Abstract
It is well known that mechanical systems require supervision and maintenance procedures. There are a lot of condition monitoring techniques that are commonly used, and in the era of IoT and predictive maintenance one may find plenty of solutions for various applications. Unfortunately in the case of belt conveyors used in underground mining a list of possible solutions shrinks quickly. The reason is that they are specific mechanical systems—the typical conveyor is located in the mining tunnel and its length may vary between 100 and 1000 m. According to mining regulations, visual inspection of the conveyor route should be done before it will start the operation. On the other hand, since environmental conditions in mining tunnels are extremely harsh and the risk of accidents is high, there is a tendency to minimize human presence in the tunnels. In this paper, we propose a prototype of an inspection robot based on a UGV platform that could support maintenance staff during the inspection. At present, the robot is controlled by an operator using radio however, we plan to make it autonomous. Moreover, its support could be significant—the robot can “see” elements of the conveyor route (RGB camera) and can identify hot spots using infrared thermography. Moreover, the detected hot spots could be localized and its position can be stored together with both types of images. In parallel, it is possible to preview images in a real-time and stored data allow analysing state of conveyor system after the inspection mission. It is also important that due to radio control systems, an operator can stay in a safe place. Such a robot can be classified as a mobile monitoring system for spatially distributed underground infrastructure.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
10. Fully-Actuated Aerial Manipulator for Infrastructure Contact Inspection: Design, Modeling, Localization, and Control
- Author
-
Anibal Ollero, Guillermo Heredia, A. E. Jimenez-Cano, Antonio Gonzalez-Morgado, Diego B. Gayango, Nicolas Cortes, Pedro J. Sanchez-Cuevas, Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática, Universidad de Sevilla. TEP151: Robótica, Visión y Control, Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO). España, European Commission (EC), and Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (MECD). España
- Subjects
0209 industrial biotechnology ,Computer science ,ComputingMethodologies_IMAGEPROCESSINGANDCOMPUTERVISION ,ComputerApplications_COMPUTERSINOTHERSYSTEMS ,02 engineering and technology ,lcsh:Chemical technology ,Biochemistry ,Article ,Analytical Chemistry ,Contact force ,Multidisciplinaire, généralités & autres [C99] [Ingénierie, informatique & technologie] ,Inspection robotics ,020901 industrial engineering & automation ,aerial systems ,Inertial measurement unit ,11. Sustainability ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,lcsh:TP1-1185 ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,Manipulator ,Instrumentation ,Simulation ,Multidisciplinary, general & others [C99] [Engineering, computing & technology] ,Propeller ,applications, inspection robotics, bridge inspection with UAS ,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics ,GNSS applications ,Control system ,Aerial systems ,Applications ,Robot ,020201 artificial intelligence & image processing ,Design modeling ,Bridge inspection with UAS - Abstract
This paper presents the design, modeling and control of a fully actuated aerial robot for infrastructure contact inspection as well as its localization system. Health assessment of transport infrastructure involves measurements with sensors in contact with the bridge and tunnel surfaces and the installation of monitoring sensing devices at specific points. The design of the aerial robot presented in the paper includes a 3DoF lightweight arm with a sensorized passive joint which can measure the contact force to regulate the force applied with the sensor on the structure. The aerial platform has been designed with tilted propellers to be fully actuated, achieving independent attitude and position control. It also mounts a &ldquo, docking gear&rdquo, to establish full contact with the infrastructure during the inspection, minimizing the measurement errors derived from the motion of the aerial platform and allowing full contact with the surface regardless of its condition (smooth, rough, ...). The localization system of the aerial robot uses multi-sensor fusion of the measurements of a topographic laser sensor on the ground and a tracking camera and inertial sensors on-board the aerial robot, to be able to fly under the bridge deck or close to the bridge pillars where GNSS satellite signals are not available. The paper also presents the modeling and control of the aerial robot. Validation experiments of the localization system and the control system, and with the aerial robot inspecting a real bridge are also included.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
11. An Automatic Procedure for Overheated Idler Detection in Belt Conveyors Using Fusion of Infrared and RGB Images Acquired during UGV Robot Inspection
- Author
-
Jacek Wodecki, Radoslaw Zimroz, Przemysław Dąbek, and Jarosław Szrek
- Subjects
Technology ,Control and Optimization ,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment ,Energy Engineering and Power Technology ,image analysis ,hot spot detection ,image fusion ,inspection robotics ,belt conveyor ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,Engineering (miscellaneous) ,Energy (miscellaneous) - Abstract
Complex mechanical systems used in the mining industry for efficient raw materials extraction require proper maintenance. Especially in a deep underground mine, the regular inspection of machines operating in extremely harsh conditions is challenging, thus, monitoring systems and autonomous inspection robots are becoming more and more popular. In the paper, it is proposed to use a mobile unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) platform equipped with various data acquisition systems for supporting inspection procedures. Although maintenance staff with appropriate experience are able to identify problems almost immediately, due to mentioned harsh conditions such as temperature, humidity, poisonous gas risk, etc., their presence in dangerous areas is limited. Thus, it is recommended to use inspection robots collecting data and appropriate algorithms for their processing. In this paper, the authors propose red-green-blue (RGB) and infrared (IR) image fusion to detect overheated idlers. An original procedure for image processing is proposed, that exploits some characteristic features of conveyors to pre-process the RGB image to minimize non-informative components in the pictures collected by the robot. Then, the authors use this result for IR image processing to improve SNR and finally detect hot spots in IR image. The experiments have been performed on real conveyors operating in industrial conditions.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
12. Belt Conveyors Rollers Diagnostics Based on Acoustic Signal Collected Using Autonomous Legged Inspection Robot
- Author
-
Sergii Anufriiev, Bartosz Jachnik, Artur Skoczylas, and Paweł Stefaniak
- Subjects
Computer science ,02 engineering and technology ,lcsh:Technology ,Signal ,Automotive engineering ,Fault detection and isolation ,lcsh:Chemistry ,Limit (music) ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,diagnostics ,General Materials Science ,Point (geometry) ,Legged robot ,lcsh:QH301-705.5 ,Instrumentation ,Haptic technology ,Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes ,lcsh:T ,Process Chemistry and Technology ,mining transport ,General Engineering ,conveyor ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,lcsh:QC1-999 ,Computer Science Applications ,Task (computing) ,deep mine ,lcsh:Biology (General) ,lcsh:QD1-999 ,lcsh:TA1-2040 ,Robot ,020201 artificial intelligence & image processing ,lcsh:Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) ,0210 nano-technology ,inspection robotics ,lcsh:Physics - Abstract
Growing demand for raw materials forces mining companies to reach deeper deposits. Difficult environmental conditions, especially high temperature and the presence of toxic/explosives gases, as well as high seismic activity in deeply located areas, pose serious threats to humans. In such conditions, running an exploration strategy of machinery parks becomes a difficult challenge, especially from the point of view of technical facilities inspections performed by mining staff. Therefore, there is a growing need for new, reliable, and autonomous inspection solutions for mining infrastructure, which will limit the role of people in these areas. In this article, a method for detection of conveyor rollers failure based on an acoustic signal is described. The data were collected using an ANYmal autonomous legged robot inspecting conveyors operating at the Polish Ore Enrichment Plant of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., a global producer of copper and silver. As a part of an experiment, about 100 m of operating belt conveyor were inspected. The sound-based fault detection in the plant conditions is not a trivial task, given a considerable level of sonic disturbance produced by a plurality of sources. Additionally, some disturbances partially coincide with the studied phenomenon. Therefore, a suitable filtering method was proposed. Developed diagnostic algorithms, as well as ANYmal robot inspection functionalities and resistance to underground conditions, are developed as a part of the “THING–subTerranean Haptic INvestiGator” project.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
13. Fully-Actuated Aerial Manipulator for Infrastructure Contact Inspection: Design, Modeling, Localization, and Control
- Abstract
This paper presents the design, modeling and control of a fully actuated aerial robot for infrastructure contact inspection as well as its localization system. Health assessment of transport infrastructure involves measurements with sensors in contact with the bridge and tunnel surfaces and the installation of monitoring sensing devices at specific points. The design of the aerial robot presented in the paper includes a 3DoF lightweight arm with a sensorized passive joint which can measure the contact force to regulate the force applied with the sensor on the structure. The aerial platform has been designed with tilted propellers to be fully actuated, achieving independent attitude and position control. It also mounts a “docking gear” to establish full contact with the infrastructure during the inspection, minimizing the measurement errors derived from the motion of the aerial platform and allowing full contact with the surface regardless of its condition (smooth, rough, ...). The localization system of the aerial robot uses multi-sensor fusion of the measurements of a topographic laser sensor on the ground and a tracking camera and inertial sensors on-board the aerial robot, to be able to fly under the bridge deck or close to the bridge pillars where GNSS satellite signals are not available. The paper also presents the modeling and control of the aerial robot. Validation experiments of the localization system and the control system, and with the aerial robot inspecting a real bridge are also included.
- Published
- 2020
14. Fully-Actuated Aerial Manipulator for Infrastructure Contact Inspection: Design, Modeling, Localization, and Control
- Abstract
This paper presents the design, modeling and control of a fully actuated aerial robot for infrastructure contact inspection as well as its localization system. Health assessment of transport infrastructure involves measurements with sensors in contact with the bridge and tunnel surfaces and the installation of monitoring sensing devices at specific points. The design of the aerial robot presented in the paper includes a 3DoF lightweight arm with a sensorized passive joint which can measure the contact force to regulate the force applied with the sensor on the structure. The aerial platform has been designed with tilted propellers to be fully actuated, achieving independent attitude and position control. It also mounts a “docking gear” to establish full contact with the infrastructure during the inspection, minimizing the measurement errors derived from the motion of the aerial platform and allowing full contact with the surface regardless of its condition (smooth, rough, ...). The localization system of the aerial robot uses multi-sensor fusion of the measurements of a topographic laser sensor on the ground and a tracking camera and inertial sensors on-board the aerial robot, to be able to fly under the bridge deck or close to the bridge pillars where GNSS satellite signals are not available. The paper also presents the modeling and control of the aerial robot. Validation experiments of the localization system and the control system, and with the aerial robot inspecting a real bridge are also included.
- Published
- 2020
15. Fully-Actuated Aerial Manipulator for Infrastructure Contact Inspection: Design, Modeling, Localization, and Control
- Abstract
This paper presents the design, modeling and control of a fully actuated aerial robot for infrastructure contact inspection as well as its localization system. Health assessment of transport infrastructure involves measurements with sensors in contact with the bridge and tunnel surfaces and the installation of monitoring sensing devices at specific points. The design of the aerial robot presented in the paper includes a 3DoF lightweight arm with a sensorized passive joint which can measure the contact force to regulate the force applied with the sensor on the structure. The aerial platform has been designed with tilted propellers to be fully actuated, achieving independent attitude and position control. It also mounts a “docking gear” to establish full contact with the infrastructure during the inspection, minimizing the measurement errors derived from the motion of the aerial platform and allowing full contact with the surface regardless of its condition (smooth, rough, ...). The localization system of the aerial robot uses multi-sensor fusion of the measurements of a topographic laser sensor on the ground and a tracking camera and inertial sensors on-board the aerial robot, to be able to fly under the bridge deck or close to the bridge pillars where GNSS satellite signals are not available. The paper also presents the modeling and control of the aerial robot. Validation experiments of the localization system and the control system, and with the aerial robot inspecting a real bridge are also included.
- Published
- 2020
16. Fully-Actuated Aerial Manipulator for Infrastructure Contact Inspection: Design, Modeling, Localization, and Control
- Abstract
This paper presents the design, modeling and control of a fully actuated aerial robot for infrastructure contact inspection as well as its localization system. Health assessment of transport infrastructure involves measurements with sensors in contact with the bridge and tunnel surfaces and the installation of monitoring sensing devices at specific points. The design of the aerial robot presented in the paper includes a 3DoF lightweight arm with a sensorized passive joint which can measure the contact force to regulate the force applied with the sensor on the structure. The aerial platform has been designed with tilted propellers to be fully actuated, achieving independent attitude and position control. It also mounts a “docking gear” to establish full contact with the infrastructure during the inspection, minimizing the measurement errors derived from the motion of the aerial platform and allowing full contact with the surface regardless of its condition (smooth, rough, ...). The localization system of the aerial robot uses multi-sensor fusion of the measurements of a topographic laser sensor on the ground and a tracking camera and inertial sensors on-board the aerial robot, to be able to fly under the bridge deck or close to the bridge pillars where GNSS satellite signals are not available. The paper also presents the modeling and control of the aerial robot. Validation experiments of the localization system and the control system, and with the aerial robot inspecting a real bridge are also included.
- Published
- 2020
17. Fully-Actuated Aerial Manipulator for Infrastructure Contact Inspection: Design, Modeling, Localization, and Controlully-Actuated Aerial Manipulator for Infrastructure Contact Inspection: Design, Modeling, Localization, and Control
- Author
-
Pedro J. Sanchez-Cuevas*, Antonio Gonzalez-Morgado*, Nicolas Cortes*, Diego B. Gayango*, Antonio E. Jimenez-Cano+, Aníbal Ollero* and Guillermo Heredia
- Subjects
bridge inspection with UAS ,aerial systems ,applications ,inspection robotics - Abstract
This paper presents the design, modeling and control of a fully actuated aerial robot for infrastructure contact inspection as well as its localization system. Health assessment of transport infrastructure involves measurements with sensors in contact with the bridge and tunnel surfaces and the installation of monitoring sensing devices at specific points. The design of the aerial robot presented in the paper includes a 3DoF lightweight arm with a sensorized passive joint which can measure the contact force to regulate the force applied with the sensor on the structure. The aerial platform has been designed with tilted propellers to be fully actuated, achieving independent attitude and position control. It also mounts a “docking gear” to establish full contact with the infrastructure during the inspection, minimizing the measurement errors derived from the motion of the aerial platform and allowing full contact with the surface regardless of its condition (smooth, rough, ...). The localization system of the aerial robot uses multi-sensor fusion of the measurements of a topographic laser sensor on the ground and a tracking camera and inertial sensors on-board the aerial robot, to be able to fly under the bridge deck or close to the bridge pillars where GNSS satellite signals are not available. The paper also presents the modeling and control of the aerial robot. Validation experiments of the localization system and the control system, and with the aerial robot inspecting a real bridge are also included.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
18. An Inspection Robot for Belt Conveyor Maintenance in Underground Mine—Infrared Thermography for Overheated Idlers Detection
- Author
-
Radoslaw Zimroz, Jacek Wodecki, Ryszard Błażej, and Jarosław Szrek
- Subjects
0209 industrial biotechnology ,Computer science ,Real-time computing ,Underground mining (hard rock) ,ComputerApplications_COMPUTERSINOTHERSYSTEMS ,02 engineering and technology ,lcsh:Technology ,Predictive maintenance ,belt conveyor ,law.invention ,lcsh:Chemistry ,020901 industrial engineering & automation ,law ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,General Materials Science ,Radio control ,underground mining ,lcsh:QH301-705.5 ,Instrumentation ,Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes ,lcsh:T ,Process Chemistry and Technology ,020208 electrical & electronic engineering ,General Engineering ,Condition monitoring ,lcsh:QC1-999 ,Computer Science Applications ,Visual inspection ,lcsh:Biology (General) ,lcsh:QD1-999 ,lcsh:TA1-2040 ,Conveyor system ,Thermography ,infrared thermography ,Robot ,damaged idler ,lcsh:Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) ,inspection robotics ,lcsh:Physics - Abstract
It is well known that mechanical systems require supervision and maintenance procedures. There are a lot of condition monitoring techniques that are commonly used, and in the era of IoT and predictive maintenance one may find plenty of solutions for various applications. Unfortunately in the case of belt conveyors used in underground mining a list of possible solutions shrinks quickly. The reason is that they are specific mechanical systems&mdash, the typical conveyor is located in the mining tunnel and its length may vary between 100 and 1000 m. According to mining regulations, visual inspection of the conveyor route should be done before it will start the operation. On the other hand, since environmental conditions in mining tunnels are extremely harsh and the risk of accidents is high, there is a tendency to minimize human presence in the tunnels. In this paper, we propose a prototype of an inspection robot based on a UGV platform that could support maintenance staff during the inspection. At present, the robot is controlled by an operator using radio however, we plan to make it autonomous. Moreover, its support could be significant&mdash, the robot can &ldquo, see&rdquo, elements of the conveyor route (RGB camera) and can identify hot spots using infrared thermography. Moreover, the detected hot spots could be localized and its position can be stored together with both types of images. In parallel, it is possible to preview images in a real-time and stored data allow analysing state of conveyor system after the inspection mission. It is also important that due to radio control systems, an operator can stay in a safe place. Such a robot can be classified as a mobile monitoring system for spatially distributed underground infrastructure.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
19. An Automatic Procedure for Overheated Idler Detection in Belt Conveyors Using Fusion of Infrared and RGB Images Acquired during UGV Robot Inspection.
- Author
-
Dabek, Przemyslaw, Szrek, Jaroslaw, Zimroz, Radoslaw, and Wodecki, Jacek
- Subjects
- *
CONVEYOR belts , *BELT conveyors , *INFRARED imaging , *DATA acquisition systems , *IMAGE fusion , *IMAGE processing - Abstract
Complex mechanical systems used in the mining industry for efficient raw materials extraction require proper maintenance. Especially in a deep underground mine, the regular inspection of machines operating in extremely harsh conditions is challenging, thus, monitoring systems and autonomous inspection robots are becoming more and more popular. In the paper, it is proposed to use a mobile unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) platform equipped with various data acquisition systems for supporting inspection procedures. Although maintenance staff with appropriate experience are able to identify problems almost immediately, due to mentioned harsh conditions such as temperature, humidity, poisonous gas risk, etc., their presence in dangerous areas is limited. Thus, it is recommended to use inspection robots collecting data and appropriate algorithms for their processing. In this paper, the authors propose red-green-blue (RGB) and infrared (IR) image fusion to detect overheated idlers. An original procedure for image processing is proposed, that exploits some characteristic features of conveyors to pre-process the RGB image to minimize non-informative components in the pictures collected by the robot. Then, the authors use this result for IR image processing to improve SNR and finally detect hot spots in IR image. The experiments have been performed on real conveyors operating in industrial conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
20. Raptor: A Design of a Drain Inspection Robot
- Author
-
Povendhan Palanisamy, Dylan Ng Terntzer, S. M. Bhagya P. Samarakoon, Mohan Rajesh Elara, Saurav Ghante Anantha Padmanabha, and M. A. Viraj J. Muthugala
- Subjects
business.product_category ,Computer science ,drain inspection ,Control (management) ,TP1-1185 ,Biochemistry ,Article ,Analytical Chemistry ,Fuzzy Logic ,Wheel and axle ,Control theory ,navigation control ,Animals ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,Instrumentation ,Simulation ,Raptors ,Chemical technology ,reconfigurable robotics ,public health and safety ,Process (computing) ,Robotics ,Ride height ,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics ,Mechanism (engineering) ,Robot ,Scenario testing ,business ,inspection robotics - Abstract
Frequent inspections are essential for drains to maintain proper function to ensure public health and safety. Robots have been developed to aid the drain inspection process. However, existing robots designed for drain inspection require improvements in their design and autonomy. This paper proposes a novel design of a drain inspection robot named Raptor. The robot has been designed with a manually reconfigurable wheel axle mechanism, which allows the change of ground clearance height. Design aspects of the robot, such as mechanical design, control architecture and autonomy functions, are comprehensively described in the paper, and insights are included. Maintaining the robot’s position in the middle of a drain when moving along the drain is essential for the inspection process. Thus, a fuzzy logic controller has been introduced to the robot to cater to this demand. Experiments have been conducted by deploying a prototype of the design to drain environments considering a set of diverse test scenarios. Experiment results show that the proposed controller effectively maintains the robot in the middle of a drain while moving along the drain. Therefore, the proposed robot design and the controller would be helpful in improving the productivity of robot-aided inspection of drains.
- Published
- 2021
21. Raptor: A Design of a Drain Inspection Robot.
- Author
-
Muthugala, M. A. Viraj J., Palanisamy, Povendhan, Samarakoon, S. M. Bhagya P., Padmanabha, Saurav Ghante Anantha, Elara, Mohan Rajesh, and Terntzer, Dylan Ng
- Subjects
- *
ROBOTS , *ROBOT design & construction , *FUZZY logic , *SUBSURFACE drainage - Abstract
Frequent inspections are essential for drains to maintain proper function to ensure public health and safety. Robots have been developed to aid the drain inspection process. However, existing robots designed for drain inspection require improvements in their design and autonomy. This paper proposes a novel design of a drain inspection robot named Raptor. The robot has been designed with a manually reconfigurable wheel axle mechanism, which allows the change of ground clearance height. Design aspects of the robot, such as mechanical design, control architecture and autonomy functions, are comprehensively described in the paper, and insights are included. Maintaining the robot's position in the middle of a drain when moving along the drain is essential for the inspection process. Thus, a fuzzy logic controller has been introduced to the robot to cater to this demand. Experiments have been conducted by deploying a prototype of the design to drain environments considering a set of diverse test scenarios. Experiment results show that the proposed controller effectively maintains the robot in the middle of a drain while moving along the drain. Therefore, the proposed robot design and the controller would be helpful in improving the productivity of robot-aided inspection of drains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
22. Falcon: A False Ceiling Inspection Robot.
- Author
-
Muthugala, M. A. Viraj J., Apuroop, Koppaka Ganesh Sai, Padmanabha, Saurav Ghante Anantha, Samarakoon, S. M. Bhagya P., Elara, Mohan Rajesh, and Wen, Raymond Yeong Wei
- Subjects
- *
CEILINGS , *BUILDING maintenance , *ROBOT design & construction , *INFRASTRUCTURE (Economics) , *ROBOTS , *BUILDING inspection - Abstract
Frequent inspections are essential for false ceilings to maintain the service infrastructures, such as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, and the structure of false ceilings. Human-labor-based conventional inspection procedures for false ceilings suffer many shortcomings, including safety concerns. Thus, robot-aided solutions are demanded for false ceiling inspections similar to other building maintenance services. However, less work has been conducted on developing robot-aided solutions for false ceiling inspections. This paper proposes a novel design for a robot intended for false ceiling inspections named Falcon. The compact size and the tracked wheel design of the robot allow it to traverse obstacles such as runners and lighting fixtures. The robot's ability to autonomously follow the perimeter of a false ceiling can improve the productivity of the inspection process since the heading of the robot often changes due to the nature of the terrain, and continuous heading correction is an overhead for a teleoperator. Therefore, a Perimeter-Following Controller (PFC) based on fuzzy logic was integrated into the robot. Experimental results obtained by deploying a prototype of the robot design to a false ceiling testbed confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed PFC in perimeter following and the robot's features, such as the ability to traverse on runners and fixtures in a false ceiling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
23. Design del braccio meccanico di un robot per ispezione di condotte idrauliche
- Author
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Valerio Pulcini, Simone Pio Negri, and Marcello Valori
- Subjects
Mechtronics ,Mobile Robotics ,Robotics ,Inspection Robotics - Abstract
Lo scopo della presente tesi è l'ideazione e la progettazione del braccio meccanico di un robot da impiegare per operazioni di ispezione, risanamento e rinnovamento di condotte idriche. Il lavoro si colloca in un progetto più esteso, supervisionato dall'Ing. Simone Pio Negri, ricercatore dell'Istituto di Tecnologie Industriali ed Automazione (ITIA), che prevede la progettazione dei vari componenti del robot e, quindi, un futuro sviluppo.
- Published
- 2018
24. Design del modulo di trazione di un robot per ispezione di condotte idrauliche
- Author
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Floriano Pisanò, Simone Pio Negri, and Marcello Valori
- Subjects
Mobile Robotics ,Robotics ,Mechatronics ,Inspection Robotics - Abstract
Lo scopo della presente tesi di Laurea consiste nell'ideazione e progettazione del modulo di trazione di un robot da impiegare in operazioni di ispezione, risanamento e riparazione di condotte idrauliche. Tale lavoro è collocato in un più ampio progetto supervisionato dall'Ing. Simone Pio Negri, ricercatore dell'Istituto di Tecnologie Industriali ed Automazione (ITIA), che prevede la progettazione dei vari componenti del robot e, quindi, un futuro sviluppo.
- Published
- 2018
25. MINOAS a Marine INspection rObotic Assistant: system requirements and design
- Author
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Markus Eich, F. Spadoni, Alberto Ortiz, V. Apostolopoulou, A. Todorova, Massimo Caccia, W. Bateman, I. Gaviotis, R. Robino, and L. Drikos
- Subjects
Engineering ,business.industry ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Mobile robot ,Virtual reality ,Control room ,Manufacturing engineering ,System requirements ,Presentation ,mobile robotics ,Systems engineering ,Robot ,System concept ,Architecture ,business ,inspection robotics ,ComputingMethodologies_COMPUTERGRAPHICS ,media_common - Abstract
A presentation of the project Marine INspection rObotic Assistant System (MI-NOAS) is given. It proposes the re-engineering of the overall vessel inspection methodology, by introducing an innovative system concept that integrates human personnel with high locomotion enabled robots, effectively tele-porting the human inspector from the vessel's hold to a control room with virtual reality properties. Project motivations, requirements and basic architecture are discussed as well as the locomotion techniques which will be evaluated, if necessary, through prototyping of ad-hoc mobile robots.
- Published
- 2010
26. Miniature Magnetic Climbing Inspection Robots
- Author
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Rochat, Frédéric and Mondada, Francesco
- Subjects
adhesion ,adhésion ,climbing robot ,mobile robotics ,robotique mobile ,robot grimpant ,magnetic adhesion ,adhésion magnétique ,inspection robotics ,robotique d'inspection - Abstract
Industrial plants have an abundance of complex and confined areas that require systematic inspection. Maintenance work is necessary to ensure reliability and safety. In many cases, due to either size limitations or high danger, access is impossible to humans. Current inspections require long and costly dismounting or safety procedures. Robotic inspection could be a convenient solution to overcome the lack of accessibility and safety for human inspectors. In the energy industry for instance, where downtime can cost millions of dollars per day, dedicated and agile robots may pursue inspection faster than humans, thus reducing the duration of overhaul. Additionally, robotic inspection may offer higher repeatability and reliability compared to human inspection. Distraction or simply boredom caused by repetitive tasks may result in an incomplete or failed inspection. Moreover, social costs and the hardness of working in an unfriendly or even toxic environment may be reduced. This work focuses on adhesion analysis, integration and mobility extension of miniature climbing robots for industrial applications. Existing solutions were carefully analysed in order to propose an innovative technology and methodology to be used in the design and implementation of these robots. The main objective was to increase the availability, capability and use of mobile robots for inspection in complex industrial environments. Due to the reduced dimensions of the industrial areas to be inspected, in some cases less than 25 mm, miniaturisation of the robot was required, as well as high mobility in 3D complex environments. Climbing ability is enhanced by improving adhesion techniques and their synergy with locomotion. Ferromagnetic environments are common in industrial facilities. Since magnetic adhesion is superior to other methods, a major effort of this work has been devoted to methodically understand and improve the use of permanent magnets as adhesion and magnetization devices integrated into miniature climbing inspection robots. Implementation of the magnetic adhesion was achieved in different magnetic climbing robots with locomotion principles such as wheels, caterpillars or feet. An innovative obstacle passing mechanism was proposed with the Cy-mag3D robots family. A proposed approach is the use of a Magnetic Switchable Device (MSD) as an adhesive and magnetizing device for inspection robots. Results show that the energy efficiency of MSDs is higher when compared to the vertical mechanical detachment of a system with permanent magnets or an electromagnetic system. MSDs have been used in TUBULO, an inchworm for visual inspection of boiler tubes of 25 mm in diameter, and TREMO, a climbing inchworm for visual inspection of complex ferromagnetic environments. A novel MSD configuration was proved adequate to perform Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI). This work proposes novel solutions to realise miniature magnetic climbing robots dedicated to inspection. The proven results go beyond the anterior state of the art. Accordingly, inspection robots may move with versatility in industrial environments. The outcome of this work opens new perspectives for the use of mobile climbing robots with direct application in industrial inspection.
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
27. Robotic Tools to Assist Marine Inspection: The MINOAS Approach
- Author
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Bibuli M., Caccia M., Robino R., Bateman W., Vogele T., Ortiz A., Drikos L., Todorova A., Gaviotis I., Spadoni F., and Apostolopoulou V.
- Subjects
mobile robotics ,inspection robotics - Published
- 2010
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