PI: Sebastian Scherer
Co-PI(s): N/A
University: Carnegie Mellon University
Industry partners: Near Earth Autonomy Inc. and KTA-Tator Inc.
Bridge maintenance today is performed by workers for tasks such as visual inspection of gaps, cracks, buckling, corrosion, manual bridge painting, or turning screws for repair. These tasks often entail lengthy bridge shutdowns and the construction of scaffolding. We propose to decrease the cost and risk associated with the manual maintenance of bridges and to increase the efficiency of the maintenance by aerial robotic platforms with research to enable sensing and repairing through aerial robot manipulation. These automatic maintenance technologies will enable safer, more cost-effective sUAS inspection and repair of transportation infrastructure than is possible by existing human manual maintenance. The innovation is to research and deploy control algorithms for an updated UAS with an onboard camera as well as properly designed end-effectors to perform various bridge maintenance, such as contact inspection, bridge painting, and turning screws even without GPS. This will increase the relevance of the platforms to multi-purpose multi-task operation, especially for bridges that often require regular maintenance thus extending the lifespan of PA infrastructure.