Robotic system for civil infrastructure inspection
AssigneeBoard of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education, on behalf of the University of Nevada, Reno
InventorsHung M. La, Son Thanh Nguyen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A modular, hybrid robotic system for inspecting a structure can include a rigid frame, a modular propulsion system associated with a flight mode of the robotic system, the propulsion system comprising a plurality of propellers, a modular locomotion system associated with a climbing and/or driving mode of the robotic system, the locomotion system comprising a plurality of wheel systems, each wheel system comprising a support leg coupled to the rigid frame and at least one wheel coupled to the support leg, and a modular floating system associated with a swimming mode of the robotic system. In operation, all or some of the components of the propulsion system, locomotion system, and floating system can be included depending on a desired function.
Claims19
A robotic system for inspecting a structure, comprising:
- a rigid frame, wherein the rigid frame comprises a first side, a second side, a third side, a fourth side, an upper side, and a lower side;
- a propulsion system coupled to the rigid frame, the propulsion system comprising four downward facing propellers coupled to the upper side of the rigid frame and four upward facing propellers coupled to the lower side of the rigid frame;
- a locomotion system coupled to the rigid frame, the locomotion system comprising a plurality of wheel systems, each wheel system comprising a support leg coupled to the rigid frame and at least one wheel coupled to the support leg;
- a first plurality of actuators configured with motors to cause the support legs to move relative to the rigid frame;
- a second plurality of actuators configured with motors to cause one or more wheels to rotate;
- at least one buoyant member coupled to the rigid frame, the buoyant member be sufficiently buoyant to cause the robotic system to float when the buoyant member is in contact with water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.