{"id":41030,"date":"2023-12-18T09:47:20","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T09:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=41030"},"modified":"2023-12-18T09:47:20","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T09:47:20","slug":"piloting-project-using-robotics-infrastructure-inspection-maintenance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/piloting-project-using-robotics-infrastructure-inspection-maintenance\/41030\/","title":{"rendered":"PILOTING project: Using robotics for infrastructure inspection and maintenance"},"content":{"rendered":"
Infrastructures are ageing. This statement alone raises discussions and concerns regarding the ageing of infrastructures, encompassing considerations such as the identification of outdated infrastructure types, materials involved, and their consequential ageing effects. It delves into the criticality and severity of these effects, necessitating precise inspections and interventions.<\/p>\n
The broader issue of infrastructure ageing is linked to the need for preventive maintenance or even replacement of infrastructures well before their designated design life expires, thereby exerting significant economic, environmental, and social impacts.<\/p>\n
Material deterioration leading to alterations in the infrastructure’s intended purpose, which can pose safety threats, may result from various factors. These factors, whether controllable by human interventions or not, ideally require attention before damage occurs. The comprehensive list of causes encompasses earthquakes, geological factors, sustained or sudden loads exceeding the structure’s capacity, severe weather conditions (e.g., heavy rain, snow, or the effects of climate change), and unresolved maintenance issues over the infrastructure’s lifecycle (such as corrosion, water leakage, spalling, delamination, etc.).<\/p>\n
Addressing the above remains crucial for maintaining the functionality, safety, and intended purpose of infrastructures. The examination of civil engineering structures involves a holistic evaluation of their overall or partial condition. This integrity assessment is of great importance as it enables the determination of their reliability under current or anticipated loads (physical or other), and identifies the corresponding intervention level and means required.<\/p>\n
Today, legal mandates impose inspection and maintenance obligations on all critical structures (buildings, bridges, tunnels, factories, ports, power plants, and more). Given the extended operational lifespan of such structures, there is a growing demand for versatile systems capable of adapting to diverse operational needs and accommodating various structure types with differing monitoring requirements.<\/p>\n
Presently, structural inspection is widely recognised as a method for diagnosing the health of a structure, considering the composition of its materials, and evaluating its overall or partial condition. This comprehensive assessment encompasses multiple parameters collectively contributing to defining the structure’s integrity.<\/p>\n
Robotics and automation solutions offer evident benefits over manual inspections, mostly in enhancing safety for both workers and the environment. Inspection and maintenance tasks can be carried out with strongly decreased risks over human life (minimised human presence and exposure).<\/p>\n Deploying robotics or automation eliminates the necessity for direct human interaction among infrastructure workers, particularly in challenging conditions like hazardous or difficult-to-access areas such as confined spaces, elevated heights, or zones with toxic substances.<\/p>\n At the same time, it enables more efficient infrastructure inspection, including difficult-to-inspect points, more precise measurements, more precise inspection repeatability and results aggregation.<\/p>\n Deformation assessment in transportation tunnels is considered a parameter measuring any deviation in the original 3D shape of the tunnel as a result of serious events (seismic, material failure, surrounding forces etc.).<\/p>\n INLECOM developed an autonomous and robotics-driven approach for capturing tunnels\u2019 internal shape and comparing it with previous inspection data, being able to measure and localise any deformation with millimetre accuracy. The solution is highly innovative as it enables quick and safe measurements with large scalability prospects being able to capture a whole tunnel in 3D, regardless of its size\/length.<\/p>\n The technical approach followed included the full integration of a FARO 3D laser scanner on robotics vehicles that autonomously navigated through the whole tunnel and triggered the laser scanner at positions of interest or the whole series of required snapshots for a whole section capturing. After the data collection at various positions, the 3D models were compared with previous inspections to detect any deformation of the tunnel.<\/p>\n To accomplish that, ICP (Iterative Closest Point) approaches were used as the first and most important aspect of the analysis, including a proper (and correct\/precise) co-registration of the different models (cloud points). The methodology was validated at the motorway tunnels of Egnatia Motorway in Greece and proved to be highly applicable to other infrastructures.<\/p>\n The innovative aspects of the approach include precision measurements, expedited tunnel modeling, human-less operation, automated modeling and aggregation, seamless application in extended tunnels, and automated 3D model comparison and defect reporting.<\/p>\n Corrosion stands out as a major hurdle in industries and infrastructural sectors where pipes and vessels play pivotal roles. These components are susceptible to corrosion, leading to structural deterioration, safety risks, environmental issues, and financial setbacks.<\/p>\n Early detection of corrosion is imperative to mitigate its detrimental impacts. Conventional inspection methods, often manual and time-intensive, face constraints in accurately gauging the extent of corrosion, especially in expansive construction sites.<\/p>\nIn this report, we are summarising recent research results of INLECOM INNOVATION in the PILOTING (PILOTs for robotic INspection and maintenance Grounded) project<\/a> using robotics for infrastructure inspection and maintenance.<\/p>\n
Robotics and automation for civil infrastructure inspection and maintenance<\/h3>\n
Laser scanning for tunnel deformation assessment<\/h3>\n
Artificial Intelligence and computer vision for defect detection in oil and gas refineries<\/h3>\n