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Monday, March 3, 2014
Tunnel Inspection and Evaluation Robot by Greek Scientists
The Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (EPISEY) of the National Technical University of Athens (EMP) along with a European scientific teams has undertaken a new research program entitled ROBINSPECT (ROBotic System with intelligent vision and control for tunnel structural INSPECTion and evaluation). The project aims to find an easy and efficient way to inspect and evaluate underground tunnels. Until now, in several European countries, underground tunnels have been checked for cracks, corrosion and other problems using the naked human eye. This practice is usually slow and expensive and not always reliable. Having that in mind, scientists are planning to create an automated robotic system which will conduct a full, reliable inspection of a tunnel in one pass. The ROBINSPECT project has been partially funded by the 7th Framework Program for Research and Technological Development of the European Union and will last three years, until September 2016. It will be implemented by a ten-partner consortium from five European countries (Greece, France, Italy, Spain and Germany) and its total budget is 4.6 million euros. ROBINSPECT’s technical coordinator and manager is Dr. Angelos Amditis, Research Director of EPISEY and Director of the I-SENSE research group of EPISEY. The new robotic system will be tested in the tunnels of the Egnatia motorway in northern Greece, in Switzerland and in the London Underground.