Petrochemical Industry Aerial Robotic Inspection: A Novel Concept for Landing and Deploying Robots on Pipes

This paper introduces a hybrid aerial robot for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) thickness petrochemical pipes inspection and a novel method for recognizing and landing on pipes in areas where Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals are degraded. In these environments, the inspection of pipes at height presents a high risk for the workers. We have addressed the issue of landing safely on pipes by implementing tilted rotors and a force control technique. Due to the type of environment, a LiDAR-Inertial Odometry has been implemented for the aircraft localization. In addition, pipes are detected and tracked using a fusion of some of the onboard sensors: a depth camera and a 2D LiDAR. The outcome is an unmanned aerial vehicle with the capability of deploying a robotic crawler on pipes at height while performing safe landing and takeoff. A demonstration of autonomous landing in an outdoor controlled environment can be found at https://youtu.be/yYRzDUkc_Bk.