Design of structural health monitoring robot using modified structured light

Abstract

Localisation and map building of mobile robots are key technologies in implementing autonomous navigation

systems. Because of many efforts in the past decade it has proved that simultaneous localisation and map building

(SLAM) is possible both theoretically and practically. Features or landmarks obtained from sensor measurements

are registered and associated in SLAM if they are sustainable and correctly matched ones. To have such features it is

essential to use a sensor system that provides precise range measurements. Typical sensors for SLAM includes the

laser range finder (LIDAR), ultra sonic and vision sensor. LIDARs provide very accurate and long range

measurements whereas measurements from ultrasonic sensors are shorter and coarse due to cone shaped beam

patterns. In this article, a structured light system, which combines laser and vision is thus considered for use with

structural displacement measurement. This article proposes a multiple dual laser-vision system to be used as a

structural displacement measurement system. The proposed dual laser-vision system is quite similar to the structured

light system but it solves accurate relative pose instead of range map of the environment. Some simulations were

done to determine the minimal configuration and to show the effectiveness of the system for the long span structural

displacement monitoring.