Cartesian manipulator for infrastructure inspection and maintenance

This work describes the design and use case experiments of a versatile 2-DoF Cartesian manipulator with a wide workspace that allows performing autonomous contact operations. The manipulator can be treated as an autonomous system, so it can be mounted on any Unmanned Robotic System (URS) and receive commands from the main platform where it is placed. Its use aims to improve the safety of operators covering risk situations and difficult access areas. As end-effector can be placed any sensor or actuator, allowing a wide range of operations related to inspection and maintenance. The system has been tested using a rebar detector as end-effector for inspection of concrete bridges and tunnels with validation experiments in a real environment.