Robotic Inspection

Robotic inspection studies how robots can gather reliable information about infrastructure, industrial equipment, and natural or hazardous environments. Systems range from aerial, underwater, and in-pipe robots to mobile manipulators, using cameras, LiDAR, thermal, tactile, and other sensors to detect defects and build 3D records. Common approaches combine sensor fusion and anomaly detection with coverage planning, next-best-view selection, route optimization, and compliant control for close or contact-based measurements. A central challenge is making inspection reliable in real settings with occlusion, uncertain geometry, changing illumination, and limited energy, while ensuring that collected evidence supports trustworthy condition assessments.