Development of a teleoperated crawler robot for inspection of agricultural pipelines

Abstract

This study presents a teleoperated crawler robot system for inspection of agricultural pipelines. The system enables teleoperation based on camera video, visual image recording, acquisition of three-dimensional geometric information using a LiDAR sensor, and acquisition of inertial data using an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for attitude correction. Furthermore, a mapping method was adopted for feature-poor pipeline environments, combining stop-and-accumulate point cloud acquisition using a non-repetitive scanning Li-DAR with IMU-based roll and pitch correction. Field experiments were conducted in an agricultural siphon waterway in Kumamoto, Japan. The results confirmed that the proposed system enabled teleoperated traversal, video acquisition, and approximate characterization of the longitudinal and plan-view geometry of the pipeline.