Abstract

To improve data consistency, work efficiency, inspector safety, and cost effectiveness during routine inspections, drones have been increasingly used in recent years to support imaging and scanning over the surface of various elements in a bridge for surface condition assessment. Most drones are operated manually within a visual line of sight and unable to inspect river-crossing bridges completely since not all elements can be viewed by a drone operator using a binocular. Even for autonomous drones with collision-avoidance features, physical interaction with a bridge for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) is currently impossible in practice. An alternative solution with robot-assisted remote nondestructive tests in visually blocked areas would be desirable during detailed inspection and condition assessment of bridges. This project aims to develop a mixed reality (MR) interface that can streamline inspection process, analysis, and documentation for seamless data uses from inspection to maintenance in bridge asset management by automating access, visualization, comparison, and assessment, and to apply the MR interface in a beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) ultrasonic measurement for the thickness of steel girders from a climbing robot.

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Research Center/Lab(s)

INSPIRE - University Transportation Center

Sponsor(s)

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590

Comments

Principal Investigator: Genda Chen, Ph. D., P. E.

Grant #: USDOT # 69A3551747126

Grant Period: 11/30/2016 - 09/30/2024

Project Period: 07/01/2022 - 06/30/2024

This investigation was conducted under the auspices of the INSPIRE University Transportation Center.

Keywords and Phrases

Augmented Reality, Climbing Robot, Multi-user Collaboration, Nondestructive Evaluation

Report Number

INSPIRE-016

Document Type

Technical Report

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2025 Missouri University of Science and Technology, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

September 30, 2024

Download

Share

 
COinS