A Magnetic Wheeled Robot for Steel Bridge Inspection

There are thousands of steel bridges with different structures and designs that have been built around the world. Although they have different structures and designs, they have in common that they need regular quality checks to avoid possible unfortunate accidents. Often, the inspection is being carried out manually, and the inspectors need to bring the testing equipment to climb the tall bridges to perform inspection. This job is dangerous and difficult. To support the inspectors, we present the design and construction of a robotic system that can assist them to perform steel bridge inspections to help minimize difficulties and dangers as well as increase productivity in the quality inspection. The robot can move on bridges with a square or circular steel structure. It is capable of carrying several types of sensors for navigation and mapping. The collected data is stored in an onboard computer and simultaneously sent to the ground station for processing in time. The robot can also mark suspicious locations to facilitate locating repairs. The results of laboratory tests in fact show the feasibility of robot design.