Urban societies rely on quality infrastructure maintenance to ensure the safety and health of residents. However, supply pipelines of; gas, water, sewage, plant piping, air conditioning ducts, heat-transfer tubes etc., are mostly hidden in inaccessible places. For instance; in narrow space between floors and walls. Therefore, it is challenging to inspect these pipes without digging into the ground or dismantling the building. Consequently, it also makes examining the inside of the pipe difficult. Established robotic technologies that can inspect the inside of pipes and identify damaged areas, efficient replacement of pipes is within reach and leads to future reliable societies.
This Research Topic aims to present fundamental and novel research regarding pipeline inspection robots and cutting-edge robotics technologies while considering real applications. It is not limited to studies on mechanical design and control of pipeline inspection robots but should also include new sensing and analyzing methods of aging level, localization methods of deterioration points and new robotic mapping of planless pipelines.
Often pipes are winding, curved, branched or vertical and technologies for traveling through these pipe types over long distances are welcome. Innovative research regarding automatic in-pipe travel and SLAM technologies are also recommended. Alongside advances in measuring the thickness of pipe walls, dead reckoning technologies and rescue techniques of stuck robots etc. Those performances should be verified and discussed through real experiments.
This Research Topic will provide an opportunity to introduce and share state-of-the-art research on pipeline inspection robots and the ability to rethink what is important to accomplish when using robotic technology for pipe inspection. We look forward to the participation of researchers and engineers who are pursuing this field.
For this Research Topic, we welcome the contributions on the following topics to collect a wide range of research related to pipe inspection robots:
• Robotic research on mechanisms and controls to travel not only horizontally but also vertically through straight pipes, bent pipes, and T-branch pipes without slipping while contacting walls inside or outside the pipes;
• Research on automatic traveling and path recognition to move the robot to the destination in the pipe without any problems;
• Research on localization and mapping to create piping routes;
• Research on sensors for automatic recognition of damaged or deteriorated parts;
• Other fundamental and applied research related to pipe inspections.
Urban societies rely on quality infrastructure maintenance to ensure the safety and health of residents. However, supply pipelines of; gas, water, sewage, plant piping, air conditioning ducts, heat-transfer tubes etc., are mostly hidden in inaccessible places. For instance; in narrow space between floors and walls. Therefore, it is challenging to inspect these pipes without digging into the ground or dismantling the building. Consequently, it also makes examining the inside of the pipe difficult. Established robotic technologies that can inspect the inside of pipes and identify damaged areas, efficient replacement of pipes is within reach and leads to future reliable societies.
This Research Topic aims to present fundamental and novel research regarding pipeline inspection robots and cutting-edge robotics technologies while considering real applications. It is not limited to studies on mechanical design and control of pipeline inspection robots but should also include new sensing and analyzing methods of aging level, localization methods of deterioration points and new robotic mapping of planless pipelines.
Often pipes are winding, curved, branched or vertical and technologies for traveling through these pipe types over long distances are welcome. Innovative research regarding automatic in-pipe travel and SLAM technologies are also recommended. Alongside advances in measuring the thickness of pipe walls, dead reckoning technologies and rescue techniques of stuck robots etc. Those performances should be verified and discussed through real experiments.
This Research Topic will provide an opportunity to introduce and share state-of-the-art research on pipeline inspection robots and the ability to rethink what is important to accomplish when using robotic technology for pipe inspection. We look forward to the participation of researchers and engineers who are pursuing this field.
For this Research Topic, we welcome the contributions on the following topics to collect a wide range of research related to pipe inspection robots:
• Robotic research on mechanisms and controls to travel not only horizontally but also vertically through straight pipes, bent pipes, and T-branch pipes without slipping while contacting walls inside or outside the pipes;
• Research on automatic traveling and path recognition to move the robot to the destination in the pipe without any problems;
• Research on localization and mapping to create piping routes;
• Research on sensors for automatic recognition of damaged or deteriorated parts;
• Other fundamental and applied research related to pipe inspections.