Towards the Development of a Bridge Inspecting Automated Device

There are, as yet, no commercially viable robotic or automation solutions in the field of reinforced concrete bridge inspection, these structures suffering from deterioration of both their concrete and steel reinforcement elements. In the manual inspection activity for defect diagnosis and repair specification, visual assessment is supplemented by a range of non-destructive tests. There are a range of such tests, each directed at a particular aspect of the decay problem. For automation to be effectively developed, the operational requirements of each test probe needs to be defined in relation to many combinations of access and location geometry. A library of these ‘benchmarks’ is in fact needed for use in the research and development of useful automation devices. They can be used in computer use in the research development of useful automation devices. They can be used in computer based simulation studies to provide work-pieces which test the capability of concept devices and aid their evolution. This is important for the development of both the access vehicle (ROV) and the robot mounted on it. The need for this rational approach is clear in that existing ROV’s would fair badly when attempting even the simplest ‘benchmark’ task. The application and value of the ‘benchmark’ approach to the automation problem has been demonstrated in the consideration of two device concepts for bridge inspection.