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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ROBINS (Robotics Technology for Inspection of Ships)

Teaser

Summary

The ROBINS project aims at filling the technology and regulatory gaps that today still represent a barrier to the adoption of Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) in activities related to inspection of ships.

The project focuses mainly on operational scenarios that can be representative of a wide variety of applications and can significantly benefit of the technologies under development, e.g. inspections in bulk carrier holds and ballast tanks.
In these environments scaffolds, cherry pickers and portable ladders are often needed for carrying out the required inspection tasks and the preparation is generally time-consuming, expensive and may cause damage to the coating. Furthermore, the surveyor is often required to access in hazardous or hard to reach areas (e.g. high or very narrow spaces).
The adoption of RAS can simplify the preparation required for the inspection, with potential reduction of costs, and make safer the operations, since the need of a physical access in hazardous areas is reduced.

Several researches have provided a proof of concept for the application of RAS in the marine industry for the inspection of ships, and some industrial applications are already under development, also following similar experiences in other domains such as Energy and Oil and Gas industry.
However, complete solutions ready for a massive adoption of Robotics and Autonomous Systems in this field are not yet available and technology, as well as rules and regulations, need to make one step forward and fill some gaps.

From a technological point of view, many progresses have already been made in the last years in a great variety of fields of application, and many more are expected in the near future. When applied to ship inspection, however, a technological gap is still to be filled to give final users suitable means to consider inspection operated through RAS equivalent to those obtained by traditional procedures.
In order to address the technological gap, the project has identified the following objectives:
- Improve the ability of RAS in sensing and probing;
- Improve capabilities in navigation and localization in confined spaces, access to and mobility within the environment;
- Improve safety and dependability of RAS in hazardous, harsh and dirty environments;
- Provide new tools, or improve existing tools for image and data processing based on data collected by advanced sensors, with special focus on the production of 3D models for virtual tours in augmented reality.

On the normative side, international standards, recognized and accepted by stakeholders and authorities, are still in progress and need to be finalized. Stable standards are a precondition to stimulate the European robotics industry and unleash the economic potential of new markets.
Concerning the regulatory aspects relevant to the use of RAS in ship inspection, the project has set the following objectives:
- Provide a framework for the assessment of equivalence between the outcomes of RAS-assisted ship inspections and traditional inspection procedures, based on an evaluation of compliance of RAS platforms with a well-defined and limited set of requirements;
- Define criteria, testing procedures and metrics for the evaluation of RAS performance in terms of: safety, functionality, dependability, security, data quality, economic viability;
- Design, implement and assess a testing environment (Testing Facility) where repeatable tests and measurements can be performed for the evaluation of compliance of RAS with the requirements;
- By means of the Testing Facility, provide to SMEs operating in the robotics industry a low-cost alternative/complement to expensive and difficult on-board field trials, where extensive test campaigns can be carried out aimed at facilitating the developments in technology for ship inspection.

Work performed

In Work Package 1 an analysis of the operational scenarios and use cases, including a risk assessment for the employment of RAS platforms in ship inspection, has been carried out. The outcome of this analysis is the basis for the definition of operational procedures, identification of functional and non-functional features for RAS platforms and design and implementation of the Testing Facility and relevant test protocols.

Specifications of the Testing Facility as well as specifications of the testing protocols have been defined in Work Package 2. Furthermore, the first loop of design and implementation of the Testing Facility has been completed, allowing the first set of lab tests in June 2019.

The development of the two aerial drones and the crawler platform for NDT measurements has started within Work Packages 3, 4 and 5, while in Work Package 6 the software specifications have been defined and the alpha version of software tools has been released.

From the beginning of the project two on-board test sessions and one in the Testing Facility have been organized within Work Package 7.
These test sessions have allowed a first assessment of the new prototypes and a first analysis of test results of RAS platforms compared to human performance in Work Package 9.

Final results

The overall concept of the ROBINS project is that equivalence between the outcomes of remote inspections carried out by means of Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) and those obtained by traditional procedures can be achieved only if the following requirements are satisfied:
- Sensing and probing capabilities of RAS are at least as good as the corresponding human personal, direct, sensory experience, or provide equivalent or richer information;
- RAS have the capability to access and adequately explore confined spaces where the inspection is required or desirable, including the capability to detect or devise its own position and orientation, and hazardous, harsh or dirty conditions can be found;
- RAS performance in terms of safety, functionality, dependability and economic viability can be measured, assessed and verified in the required operational scenarios;
- The data collected during inspection activities can be securely acquired, transmitted, archived, maintained and used, with special concern to confidentiality, integrity and availability;
- The data collected during inspection activities, such as photographs, movies or thickness measurement data, are made available to end users by means of software tools capable of providing detailed information with adequate presentation and analysis tools.

These developments in robotics technology and software tools and a comprehensive assessment of RAS platforms capabilities is expected to remove, or significantly reduce, existing barriers that still prevent the adoption of robotics technology in this domain.
The main advantages in the employment of RAS in ship inspection are the simplified preparation of items to be inspected, with potential reduction of costs, and the safer inspection operation, since the Surveyor is not required to physically access in hazardous or hard to reach areas (e.g. high or very narrow spaces).
The development of testing protocols to be implemented in a Testing Facility is expected to reduce obstacles and costs for the development of new technologies and functionalities, increasing the opportunities to extend the range of application to new operational scenarios and to disclose new potential markets to robotics industry.