Flaws targeted by robotic building inspector Friday, 23 September 2016

Researchers at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have engineered a new building inspector robot armed with laser scanners and high-tech cameras capable of spotting the tiniest of cracks and defects.

The building inspection robot, named QuicaBot was co-developed by the researchers at the NTU Robotic Research Centre, along with Singaporean industrial developer JTC and a local start-up CtrlWorks.

"QuicaBot" is short for Quality Inspection and Assessment Robot. The robot is able to move autonomously to scan a room in about half the time compared to a manual inspection, picking up building defects like cracks on walls and ceilings, unevenness in the floor and walls, hollow tiles, and walls that may not be set at a 90 degree angle.

To detect them manually, a building inspector will have measurement tools like a spirit level and set square. The QuicaBot utilises its own arsenal of high-tech tools, including a small laser scanner for navigation and mapping, a large laser scanner to inspect walls for evenness and squareness, an inclinometer to check evenness of the floor, a thermal infrared camera to check for hollow tiles, and a standard colour camera to detect cracks on walls.

The robot can operate for three days with two hours of charging. It moves around the room on a mobile platform.

According to the researchers, it is possible to utilise multiple robots at once to speed up the inspection of a building. The robots can upload 3D data of the scans to the cloud, and inform the human operator, who can then inspect defects identified as critical or complex.

The project leader, Assistant Professor Erdal Kayacan from NTU’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, said the key aim of the project is to automate and speed up the building inspection process according to standards set by the Building & Construction Authority.

"Visual inspection of a new building is an intensive effort that takes two inspectors, so we have designed a robot to assist a human inspector to do his job in about half the time, saving precious time and manpower, and with great accuracy and consistency," explained Prof Kayacan.

"The robot can scan an entire room to detect defects according to stringent and consistent standards, and then upload its data in 3D into a database. This means all defects will have their visual and detailed measurements recorded automatically, which can be accessed by the inspectors and the building owners."

[Prof Kayacan (2nd left) with NTU colleagues and the Quicabot. Photo: NTU]

Innovation will be the subject of a number of presentations at the Australian Engineering Conference 2016 in Brisbane on November 23-25.