Sircaur: Safe Inspection Of Reinforced Concrete Structures By Autonomous Robot

Abstract

Designing climbing robots for industrial applications, has been proven to be an egg and chicken problem.\nThe more the payload the more adhesion force needed. In order to move a robot upwards with such a force,\nmotors with bigger torque are required and thus, increasing the payload. Similarly, increasing the adhesion\nforce is likely to increase the payload. This paper presents an improved climbing robot specifically designed\nto climb on structures with 30~35mm of reinforced concrete (R/C) cover, while deploying a precision noncontact\nGPR sensor for the detection of rebar corrosion and related defects. Furthermore, it carries a system\nfor visual inspection and detection of concrete cover deterioration. It works autonomously under UWB\ncontrolled trajectories, adjustable by GPR sensor feedback for avoidance of rebar-poor regions. The\ninspection NDT data is transmitted wirelessly to a ground-based CPU for processing and monitoring.