Robot-Inclusive Guidelines for Drain Inspection

摘要

The current drain maintenance process is labour intensive and dangerous for human workers in the dark, slippery and confined space of the drain network. Robotic aid is a solution to such manpower risks, but the existing drain network system is not designed for efficient robot inspection. This paper discusses the need of robot-inclusive guidelines for robot deployment for drain inspection in the context of Singapore drains. This would assist in prolonging the robot's operational lifespan, and cut down occupational hazards and safety risks faced by human workers in the drain inspection process. Derivation of these robot-inclusive guidelines is determined through the study of existing inspection robots and the case study of Raptor, a four-wheeled drain inspection robot. By studying the issues that the Raptor robot faces during deployment, drain design spatial considerations can be made in order to assist existing and future drain inspection robots in performing their tasks efficiently.