A low-cost robotic inspection platform for remote operation in aggressive environments

Completed

Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fission, Nuclear supporting technologies)
Not Energy Related

Applied Research and Development

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
Cadscan Limited

Feasibility Studies

Innovate UK

01 January 2017

31 December 2017

12 months

£66,308

North West

Competition Call: 1603_FS_ENRG_EGC - Energy Game Changer. Activity Enabling Technologies for Energy

Project Contact, Cadscan Limited

Inspection in aggressive environments is time-consuming, dangerous and expensive. We will address this by developing a low-cost, autonomous robot platform based on Cadscan’s novel, patent-pending 3D imaging technology. This uses multi-illuminator phase-shifting to capture high resolution imagery inexpensively using just an array of LEDs, a printed mask and a camera. The sensing system will help navigate the robot and to construct a detailed survey of the environment. Making the platform low cost is an important enabler when harsh environments limit operational lifetime. In the Fukushima reactor incident radiation caused the wiring on all 5 clean-up robots to fail (dev cost $50m.) Lowering costs also means that multiple robots can be deployed simultaneously, cooperating to survey the environment much faster than individual units. We will focus primarily on ground-based platforms, although the sensor is suitable for drones too. We aim to change the game and take inspection to the limit.

02/09/19