Autonomous or Remotely-Operated Maintenance of Ships"Tanks

Autonomous and remotely operated maintenance of complex Navy ship tanks represents a significant challenge in robotics. To solve this problem, AVID LLC is teaming with Carnegie Mellon and Virginia Tech to address this challenge using an air-ground team of robots. AVID"s small 8"EDF-8 ducted fan hovering robot was designed to fly through 15"tank portholes and carry up to 1 lb of payload. This air robot will perform rapid tank inspections using VT's 3D mapping of the structure with detailed location data for areas needing maintenance. This data will be used for path planning of CMU"s snake robots that are designed for operations in confined spaces. The ground robot"s movements within the tank will be minimized while still accomplishing the objective of the necessary industrial processes (painting, sanding, welding). Since ground mobility within complex tank structures is the largest risk to mission success, the rapid inspection and mapping from the aerial platform will save time, mitigate risks, and provide a more reliable overall solution. In the end, robotic maintenance of ship voids and ballast/fuel tanks will greatly reduce the risk to human life with the potential of reducing costs in the long term.