Autonomous mobile robots for ultrasonic NDE

M. Friedrich, W. Galbraith, G. Hayward

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution book

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Robotic vehicles are becoming increasingly attractive for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of engineering structures, particularly for those areas where access is difficult or too hazardous for human intervention. This paper describes the design philosophy and prototype evaluation of a team of heterogeneous miniature climbing robots, which perform a range of NDE tasks, including magnetic flux leakage, eddy-current, visual and ultrasonic inspection. A host computer is used for overall supervision and inter-vehicle communication is achieved using wireless links. Each autonomous robot is located in 3-D space by an ultrasonic positioning system in a listener-beacon configuration and is supplemented by data derived from optical wheel encoders and an on-board gyroscope. Results for non-contact ultrasonic inspection are presented, where the vehicle NDE payload comprises a pair of air coupled transducers, inclined at the appropriate angle to a test plate, for generation and reception of the A(0) Lamb wave. C-scan images are shown, using the vehicle and the local positioning system to provide relative positional information.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2006 IEEE Ultrasonics symposium proceedings
Subtitle of host publicationvolumes 1-5
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherIEEE
Pages902-905
Number of pages3
ISBN (Print)9781424402014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2007
EventIEEE Ultrasonics Symposium 2006 - Vancouver, Canada
Duration: 2 Oct 20066 Oct 2006

Publication series

NameUltrasonics Symposium
PublisherIEEE
ISSN (Print)1051-0117

Conference

ConferenceIEEE Ultrasonics Symposium 2006
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityVancouver
Period2/10/066/10/06

Keywords

  • autonomous
  • mobile robots
  • ultrasonic
  • nde

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