Recent developments in remote inspections of ship structures

• Main Authors: Laura Poggi, Tomaso Gaggero, Marco Gaiotti, Enrico Ravina, Cesare Mario Rizzo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
• Subjects: Ship surveys; Robotics and autonomous systems; Testing facility; Test protocols
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2092678220300388

In recent years robotics has become an important resource in engineering. Adoption of Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) in activities related to ship inspections has obvious potential advantages, but also arises particular challenges, both from technical and legal viewpoints.The ROBINS project (ROBotics technology for INspection of Ships) is a collaborative project co-funded within the H2020 EU Research and Innovation programme call, aimed at filling the gap between current ship inspections approach and available robotic technology, both from technological and regulatory point of view.Main goal of the present work is to highlight how ship inspections are currently carried out by humans, how they could be improved using RAS, even if not completely autonomous for the time being, at least in selected operational scenarios and how the performances of RAS platforms can be tested to assess their effectiveness in carrying out surveys onboard. In such a framework, a testing facility aimed at assessing RAS’ capabilities as well as providing suitable environment for their development has been built and it is still under development along with dedicated testing protocols, able to assess the equivalence between human and RAS inspection of ship and marine structures.The features of a testing facility where RAS can be tested and the testing protocols are presented, showing how technological and regulatory gaps are filled.