A survey on wireless in-pipe inspection robotics

Pipeline detection is a crucial step in ensuring industrial safety. With the rapid advancement of information and sensor technology, research and applications of wireless pipeline inspection robotics have shown an increasing trend, necessitating a comprehensive review of these studies. Broadly, the research on these devices can be divided into two categories: In-Line Inspection (ILI) robots and external-pipeline inspection robots. This survey primarily focuses on the research status of wireless ILI robots. By using some typical robots as examples, this survey introduces key parameters that reflect the performance of ILI robots in tabular formats. These parameters include vehicle-borne sensors, wireless communication methods, cruising time, and applicable pipeline diameters. Finally, this survey summarizes the aforementioned wireless ILI robots and provides the author’s suggestions for their improvement.