Team of Pneumatic ASi-Controlled Climber Robots for Ships Inspection.

The paper describes the main features of a team of co-operant climber robots designed for autonomous inspections inside ships and offshore platforms. The autonomous units are conceived for monitoring of the status of internal metallic surfaces, taking into account the peculiarities related to the shape of the typical metallic structures characterizing the marine field. The team consists of four units at least, pneumatically powered and controlled by Actuator-Sensor-interface technology (ASi). The number of the team units can be modified as a function of the inspection. Each unit is equipped with video-camera and ultrasonic thickness measurement device; other sensors and transducers can be added and handled, depending on the inspection requirements.