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4rth ROBO-SPECT Newsletter, November 2015

ROBO-SPECT

ROBO-SPECT

NEWS

In This Issue

Editorial…………………… 1

The First Evaluation of the

ROBO-SPECT Robotic

System in the Research

Tunnel Infrastructure of VSH

in Switzerland..………….... 2

The ROBO-SPECT Work-

shop in London on Novem-

ber 5, 2015………..… 3

News and Events………... 6

Consortium……………….. 8 ROBO-SPECT

Editorial Welcome to this ROBO-SPECT's fourth newsletter.

ROBO-SPECT is a European 7th Framework project funded under the ICT

programme on Robotics Use Cases (contract No. 611145), implemented by

10 partners from 6 European countries.

The main objective of the project consortium is to provide an automated,

speedy and reliable tunnel inspection and assessment solution that can

combine in one pass both inspection and detailed structural assessment

and that only minimally interfere with tunnel traffic. The proposed robotic

system has been evaluated at the research infrastructure of VSH in

Switzerland, and will be further evaluated at London Underground and at

the tunnels of Egnatia Motorway in Greece.

The project officially launched its activities in October 2013. During the first

year of the project the partners identified an extended group of end-users,

derived user requirements and specifications and based on these designed

the first prototypes of all components of the proposed robotic system.

Inside this issue you will find the results of the first evaluation of the

ROBO-SPECT robotic system at the research tunnel infrastructure of VSH

in Switzerland, as well as information on the ROBO-SPET workshop on

November 5, 2015. Additionally, in this issue you will find information on the

consortium's participation in conferences and other events related to the

project's research field.

Angelos Amditis

Project Coordinator

PROJECT FACTS

Duration:

1 October 2013 –

30 September 2016

Total Cost:

4.592.196,00€

EU contribution:

3.306.599,00€

www.robo-spect.eu

ROBOtic System

with Intelligent Vision and

Control for

Tunnel Structural INSPECTion

and Evaluation

Issue 4 November 2015

1st ROBO-SPECT Newsletter, May 2014 4rth ROBO-SPECT Newsletter, November 2015

The ROBO-SPECT project is combining recent advances in robotic systems and sensors, computer vision, ultrasonic sensing, as well as laser scanning in an integrated manner to achieve structural assessment of reinforced concrete linings in transportation tunnels in a semi-autonomous way.

The robotic platform of the system is the main system vehicle incorporating all hardware and software systems. It is responsible for the autonomous navigation and positioning of the robotic system as well as crane and robotic arm movements.

The computer vision system is responsible for the crack and other defects detection on the surface of the tunnels, calculation of the crack coordinates as well as the creation of 3D model of the area of interest. A 3D laser scanner is also used to create a 3D representation of the tunnel slice of interest to detect any deformations of the tunnel perimeter.

An ultrasonic sensing device is used to provide very accurate measurements of the identified cracks with a sub-millimeter precision.

A structural assessment software (not evaluated in this lab test) compiles all sensor results and performs the overall tunnel structural assessment and also incorporates the tunnel operator interface.

First Evaluation of the ROBO-SPECT Robotic System at the Research Tunnel Infrastructure of VSH in Switzerland

Robotic Platform

The first tests of the integrated ROBO-SPECT system

were executed on the week 20-24 July 2015 at the Re-

search Infrastructure Tunnels of VSH (consortium part-

ner). VSH is fully owned by the Amberg Group – lead-

ing producers of mobile tunnel inspection equipment.

During the last 40 years, VSH has developed – on a

private base – an underground research infrastructure

of tunnels totaling about 5.1 km in length. These tun-

nels, that have a height of 5.5 meters, include sections

with cast in place concrete linings some of which are

damaged.

ROBO-SPECT started evaluating and benchmarking

their robotic system at the above road,

cast-in-place concrete, damaged and undamaged sec-

tions of the VSH tunnels. For this, version1 of the inte-

grated system was transported to VSH tunnels

(Switzerland).

All system components were tested in a semi-

integrated and individual scenarios into actual parts of

the VSH tunnel network and also over damaged testing

concrete slabs that were created by the VSH team. The

evaluation and benchmarking included the performance

of the navigation and positioning system, the vision sys-

tem, the ability to control the arm, stability, the sensing

system, the speed as a function of damage and the

structural assessment models. First results of each

submodule testing can be found below:


ROBO-SPECT

Robotic Platform Navigation and

Positioning

At first, all the safety lasers were

placed and reprogrammed under

operating circumstances, in order

to allow the collision avoidance

tool for the movement of the

platform. The axis PTZ frontal

camera was also reconfigured in

order to offer real time images

through the WiFi network, which

were used for remotely controlling

the platform and supervising the

operation.

Tests were performed with the

movement and positioning of the

crane, revealing technical issues to

be revised. The general

performance of the movement was

also tested and led to some in-situ

adjustments to the low level

controllers. Communications and

interfaces for the mission controller

within the robotic system were also

revised.

Robotic Arm Testing

The tests regarding the robotic arm integrated with the complete system

included:

Communication between robotic arm and other subsystems: The

communication between the arm software and the ICCS vision system

and ROB mobile vehicle was achieved using an internal network and

the YARP libraries. The first tests on communications consist in input

and output client/service messages through TCP/IP ports. This

mechanism will be used to transmit the information during the

autonomous inspection.

Hardware testing: The robotic arm complete system fits well on the

crane platform. The movements of the arm were tested in a

tele-operated way and the ultrasonic sensors were placed successfully

in contact with the wall (see “Ultrasonic System” below). The range laser

attached to the robotic arm operates correctly and the DC power supply

installed on the crane platform provides the necessary power.

Software testing: The trajectory generator system developed for the arm

was tested on a tunnel-lining sample provided by VSH. The system was

able to scan the surface of the wall and position the robotic tip at a

constant distance to the wall with normal orientation.

Robotic Arm System during VSH tests. Note the scanned surface and the

robot state in the monitor.


Crack Detection Computer Vision System The robotic system crack detection system was

successfully tested by ICCS at both the actual VSH

tunnels (pre casted concrete sections) and also the

testing slabs constructed by VSH team.

The system was tested over visible cracks and was

able to perform crack detections even in areas with

multiple cracks on the surface.

Different moving and lighting conditions were

successfully tested giving significant feedback to the

future versions of the computer vision algorithms.

Tunnel Defects Detection System The Tunnel Defect Detection System was tested

mainly on two locations of the VSH tunnel one at the

main VSH workshop and another at a location inside

the VSH tunnel (with pre-casted concrete blocks).

The experiments were conducted under varying

luminance (manually controlled from a light source

installed on the robot platform) and intensity values.

Images captured inside the VSH tunnels were using

the cameras from the robotic platform. The defect

detection model, which was previously trained with a

database consisting of images captured from an auto-

focus camera and diffused background lighting, it was

now tested on images captured by a camera with

manual focus and different background lighting.

Despite the different conditions, the pre-trained model

was tested successfully and gave a high enough

accuracy. Furthermore, a retraining of the model with

original images captured from the same camera

settings and lighting conditions as in the actual tunnel

scenario can be used to further enhance its

robustness.

One crack detection results

Spalling detection results


ROBO-SPECT

Laser Scanning System

The 3D laser scanner of the system was also tested by ICCS at many positions inside the VSH testing tunnels

network. The laser scanner was triggered by the robotic platform and so the messaging system was also tested.

The 3D laser scanner successfully captured slices of the positions of interest inside the tunnel that were locally

stored for further processing.

Ultra Sonic System

On-field testing of the ultrasonic sensor system for crack characterization was performed in VSH facility on cracks

artificially produced on a two-meters high sample of tunnel lining with length of several meters, suitable for

emulating real working conditions for the ultrasonic sensor system. In these tests, the robot arm was brought close

to the lining and brought in contact with it using the four-point supports of the ultrasonic sensor module. The

procedure was completed successfully and vibrations during arm movement seemed not to interfere with the preci-

sion of the placement and the effectiveness of the crack depth measurements.

Laser Scanner in road tunnel and VSH tunnel (slices)

Testing of the ultrasonic sensor system on tunnel lining sample in VSH facility.


ROBO-SPECT Workshop on 'Ageing Tunnels: Inspection and Assessment' on November 5, 2015, in London The aim of this workshop was to:

share information on the current needs and issues in tunnel

structural inspection from several end users and technology

providers

present the first ROBO-SPECT results

discuss some of the challenges the tunnel structural

inspection is facing and receive feedback on the

ROBO-SPECT research.

Fourteen representatives of end users attended the meeting.

They represented the following organizations:

London Underground,

Crossrail,

CH2M,

SITAF,

Attico Metro,

Egnatia Odos,

VSH,

Aegean Motorways

In the first part of the workshop the partners presented their

results in the ROBO-SPECT project.

Following this, the partners learned about current needs and

issues in tunnel inspection from end users and received feedback

about the ROBO-SPECT research.

Regarding needs for a robotic system for tunnel inspection the

end users mentioned:

a. In case of metros: To be able to get the robot to location it

should be possible to assemble it at the level of the train rails.

Moreover, inspection should finish in no more than 3 hours so

that trains can start running again.

b. In a future version: It would be desirable to have a com-

puter vision system that is operational while moving. Further-

more, to add to the robot spring loaded hammers.

IROS 2015 in Hamburg from Sept 28 to Oct. 2

ROBO-SPECT attended the IROS 2015

conference and supported the ROBO-

SPECT dissemination activities through a

booth at the conference exhibition. The

conference was attended by more than

2000 attendees from various fields of

expertise such as robotics, computer

vision, sensing systems, navigation and

other proving very relevant to the ROBO-

SPECT activities. ROBO-SPECT was

disseminated through many discussions

with attendees and booth followers

through leaflets, posters and newsletters.

ROBO-SPECT evaluation Video

A video has been produced

on the ROBO-SPECT

evaluation at the VSH tunnel

research infrastructure and

can be seen at youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72wtRp5KV_M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72wtRp5KV_M


News and Events

ROBO-SPECT Presentations/Publications During the Last Six Months

Makantasis, K., Protopapadakis, E., Doulamis, A.D., Doulamis, N.D., Loupos, C., "DEEP CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR EFFICIENT VISION BASED TUNNEL INSPECTION," IEEE International Confer-ence on Intellignence, Communication, and Processing, 3-5 September, Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2015)

Eftychios Protopapadakis and Nikolaos Doulamis - IMAGE BASED APPROACHES FOR TUNNELS' DEFECTS RECOGNITION VIA ROBOTIC INSPECTORS," International Symposium on Visual Computing, Las Vegas, USA, December 2015

K. Loupos, A. Amditis, C. Stentoumis, P. Chrobocinski, J. Victores, A. Roncaglia, S.Camarinopoulos, N. Ko-modakis, R. Lopez - ROBOTIC SYSTEM WITH INTELLIGENT VISION FOR TUNNEL STRUCTURAL AS-SESSMENT - SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - THE ROBO-SPECT-EC PROJECT – Third Conference on Smart Monitoring, Assessment and Rehabilitation of Civil Structures, SMAR 2015, 7-9 September 2015, Antalya, Tur-key, ISBN: 978-3-905594-65-2

K. Makantasis, E. Protopapadakis, N. Doulamis, A. Doulamis, K. Loupos - DEEP CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR EFFICIENT VISION BASED TUNNEL INSPECTION, 11th International Conference on Intel-ligent Computer Communication and Processing, IEEE ICCP 2015, 2-5 September 2015, Cluj-Napoca

C. Stentoumis, A. Amditis, G. Karras - CENSUS-BASED COST ON GRADIENTS FOR MATCHING UNDER ILLUMINATION DIFFERENCES, International Conference on 3D Vision (3DV 2015), Lion, October 2015

C Stentoumis, E. Karkalou, G. Karras - A review of penalty functions in semi-global matching Evaluation under radiometric differences - 11th International Conference on Intelligent Computer Communication and Pro-cessing, IEEE ICCP 2015, 2-5 September 2015, Cluj-Napoca

K. Makantasis, A. Doulamis, K. Loupos - VARIATIONAL INFERENCE FOR BACKGROUND SUBTRACTION IN INFRARED IMAGERY, 11th International Symposium on Visual Computing (ISVC 2015), 14-16 December 2015, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Loupos, C. et al. 'Robotic System with Intelligent Vision for Tunnel Assessment - System Architecture - The ROBO-SPECT EC Project,' Third Conference on Smart Monitoring, Assessment and Rehabilitation of Struc-tures, 7-9 Sept. 2015, Andalusia, Spain.

N. Doulamis, A, Doulamis, K. Makantasis, K. Karantzalos, K. Loupos. 'Thermal Imaging for Active Evacuation Routes' 8th ACOM International Conference on Pervasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, 1-3 July 2015, Corfu, Greece

K. Loupos et al. 'Robotic System with Intelligent Vision for Tunnel SHM - ROBO-SPECT EC Project,' Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure (SHMII), July 1-3, 2015, Torino, Italy.

R. Montero, J.G. Victores, S. Martinez, A. Jardon, C. Balaguer 'Past, Present and Future of Robotic Tunnel In-spection' Automation in Construction, vol.59, 2015, pp.99-112

S. Zagoryuko and N. Komodakis, 'Learning to Compare Image Patches via Convolutional Neural Networks,' CVPR 2015, June 8-10, 2015, Boston, USA

W. Zou and N. Komodakis, 'HARF: Hierarchy-Associated Rich Features for Salient Object Detection,' ICCV 2015, Dec. 13-16, Santiago, Chile


Contact Us Project Coordinator:

Angelos Amditis ([email protected])

Dissemination Manager:

Stephanos Camarinopoulos ([email protected])

Visit us on the web at www.robo-spect.eu

Join us on robo_spect Twittter group

Join us on ROBO-SPECT LinkedIN group

Consortium

End users that participate as partners, associate partners, subcontractors or members of an

extended users' group that has been formed are: EUROTUNNEL, London Underground,

RATP (Parisian metro), Attico Metro (Athinean metro), Harcrow Group Ltd., Egnatia Metorway

S.A., Aegean Motorway S.A., SITAF, and CETU (in the French Public Roads Administration).

END USERS IN THE GROUP

This project has received funding

from the European Union’s

Seventh Framework Programme

under grant agreement no

[611145]

Institute of Communications and Computer Systems (ICCS)

AIRBUS DS

University Carlos III, Madrid Dpto. De Ingeniera de Sistemas y Automatica Robotics Laboratory(UC3M)

VSH Hagerbach Test Gallery Ltd. (VSH)

Egnatia Motorway S.A. (EOAE)

Institute of Microelectronics and Microsystems, National Research Council of Italy (CNR)

RISA Sicherheitsanalysen GmbH (RISA)

Techniche e Consulenze Nell’ Ingegneria Civile S.p.A - Consulting Engineers S.p.A (TECNIC)

D. Bairaktaris & Associates Structural Design Office Ltd. (DBA)

Ecole des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)

ROBOTNIK (ROB)

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