ROBO-SPECT is a European 7th Framework project funded under the ICT programme on Robotics Use Cases (contract No. 611145), implemented by 10 partners from 6 European countries.
The main objective of the project consortium is to provide an automated, speedy and reliable tunnel inspection and assessment solution that can combine in one pass both inspection and detailed structural assessment and that only minimally interfere with tunnel traffic. The proposed robotic system will be evaluated at the research infrastructure of VSH in Switzerland, at London Underground and at the tunnels of Egnatia Motorway in Greece.
The project officially launched its activities in October 2013. During the first year of the project the partners indentified an extended group of end-users, derived user requirements and specifications and based on these designed the first prototypes of all components of the proposed robotic system. Robotnik handles the automation of mobile robotics platform of this project.
The AutoWinSpec project is partly funded by the European Seventh Framework Program (FP7) over two years.
The proposed research aims to deliver a novel inspection technique and apparatus based on Acousto – Ultrasonics, a mechanical integrity assessment technique, to enable accurate estimation of the mechanical properties of the blades and their remaining lifespan. Therefore wind farm operators will be able to identify defective areas and order the new blade on time to increase availability; hence profits.
The entire process will be automated; reducing costs per WT inspected and inspection time by 84% and 50% respectively compared to existing approach while enhancing the operators’ safety by eliminating the need to climb on 100m wind towers.