The evaluation of a multi-sensor robotic visual inspection system

In this paper, the performance of a multi-sensor, robot-mounted, inspection system has been investigated. A robot- Arm was used to enable large-scale, flexible inspection using a 2D laser scanner. The laser scanner can be used to quickly scan the inspection surface, and using the scan data the location of possible faults or special features is determined. A high resolution optical sensor, co-located with the laser scanner, can then be used to obtaining high resolution scans of selected features. The combination of the two sensors provides a relatively fast, but also, high resolution inspection system. The performance of the inspection system is investigated by considering the impact of scanning paths on the quality of data recovered from the laser scanner. This demonstrates the need for optimised sensor scan paths, which are necessary to inspect and reconstruct complex surface structures in a robust way. A methodology to identify the location of possible features of interest on the scanned surface is developed; allowing automatic positioning of the high resolution optical sensor for subsequent detailed inspection.