Complete and Near-Optimal Robotic Crack Coverage and Filling in Civil Infrastructure

We present a simultaneous sensor-based inspection and footprint coverage (SIFC) planning and control design with applications to autonomous robotic crack mapping and filling. The main challenge of the SIFC problem lies in the coupling of complete sensing (for mapping) and robotic footprint (for fill...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on robotics 2024, Vol.40, p.2850-2867
Main Authors: Veeraraghavan, Vishnu, Hunte, Kyle, Yi, Jingang, Yu, Kaiyan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actuation
Algorithms
Civil infrastructure
construction robots and automation
coverage planning
Cracks
Heuristic algorithms
Mapping
Motion control
Motion planning
Planning
Polynomials
Robot control
Robot dynamics
Robot kinematics
Robot sensing systems
Robotics
Robots
Sensors
Task analysis
Workspace
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Summary:We present a simultaneous sensor-based inspection and footprint coverage (SIFC) planning and control design with applications to autonomous robotic crack mapping and filling. The main challenge of the SIFC problem lies in the coupling of complete sensing (for mapping) and robotic footprint (for filling) coverage tasks. Initially, we assume known target information (e.g., cracks) and employ classic cell decomposition methods to achieve complete sensing coverage of the workspace and complete robotic footprint coverage using the least-cost route. Subsequently, we generalize the algorithm to handle unknown target information, allowing the robot to scan and incrementally construct the target map online while conducting robotic footprint coverage. The online polynomial-time SIFC planning algorithm minimizes the total robot traveling distance, guarantees complete sensing coverage of the entire workspace, and achieves near-optimal robotic footprint coverage, as demonstrated through experiments. For the demonstrated application, we design coordinated nozzle motion control with the planned robot trajectory to efficiently fill all cracks within the robot's footprint. Experimental results illustrate the algorithm's design, performance, and comparisons. The SIFC algorithm offers a high-efficiency motion planning solution for various robotic applications requiring simultaneous sensing and actuation coverage.
ISSN:1552-3098
1941-0468
DOI:10.1109/TRO.2024.3392077