Design and Simulation of an Inspection Rover for the Survey of Historical and Monumental Sites

In this paper, the application of an inspection rover is presented being used for the survey of indoor sites, such as historical and monumental buildings. Robotics and automation are started being used in the last two decades as excellent tools for the monitoring, inspection, relief of suitable data related to the building of infrastructure, for their monitoring and further maintenance, and nowadays they can be considered well accepted. Being aware that permanent monitoring is still the primary tool for the purpose of getting the dynamic response of the structures and possible cracks evolution, further information can be obtained by periodic surveys, which can be realized with the aid of robots. In this respect, we are addressing the problem of the analysis of historical and monumental sites, for which photogrammetry and thermal imaging are effective solutions to verify the state of conservation of the building. Robots must be able then to move on horizontal or sloped surfaces, overpass obstacles and acquire images and/or thermal images. In this paper, we present a mechatronic design and simulations of a hybrid robot equipped with lifting table and an orienting device. In particular, the robot is not only a useful tool for education but can be endowed with suitable sensors to take information on the main structural elements, avoiding the need of experienced personnel to get directly inside the site to be inspected. Simulation results of the rover movements, and first experimental set-up for tests are reported in this paper to show the engineering feasibility of the proposed solution and its practical use in lab environment.