Guido La Rosa

A low-cost lightweight climbing robot for the inspection of vertical surfaces

This paper proposes a new type of low-cost climbing robot which is able to climb up vertical, cylindrical painted iron surfaces by means of eight suction cups, to change its climbing direction, and using an appropriate system, to carry an ultrasonic probe or other non-destructive tests (NDT) equipment to evaluate the thickness and the integrity of the metal in the inspection of storage tanks. The paper presents a discussion of the design and construction of the robot, the solution adopted for the problem of control and a simulation of the kinematic forward problem for a given trajectory. Finally, the authors give the results of various motion trials performed on walls with different inclinations and of different materials to verify the correct functioning of the movement and the adhesion system used.

Water quality mapping of Augusta Bay, Italy from Landsat-TM data

Abstract Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) digital data were used to map the distributions and concentrations of selected water quality indicators in and around Augusta Bay, Sicily. The general approach involved near-simultaneous aquisition of TM data and water quality samples from 42 sites, laboratory analysis of samples, extraction of sample site digital numbers from the TM data, development and validation of regression models based on sample data, application of models to the entire study area, and generation of colour-coded output maps. Results were good for modelling temperature, turbidity, Secchi disk depth and chlorophyll-a, and indicate that remotely-sensed data may be applicable to monitoring water quality in this geographic area.

SURFY: A Low Weight Surfaces Climbing Robot (Design, Control, Assembly and Preliminary Tests)

Climbing and Walking Robots can be used to resolve some problems of maintenance, inspection and safety in industry. The first prototypes already developed have proved able to perform tasks in hostile environments and serve as a work platform for manipulators in inaccessible. areas. The inspection of storage tanks is a task that has been standardised by the American Petroleum Institute, with the API Standard 653. This paper describes the design and the construction of a prototype climbing robot and reports the results of various motion trials performed on walls of different inclinations and of different materials to verify the correct functioning of the movement and of the adhesion system