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The corrosion of materials and structures costs ~ 3.5% pa of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and Reinforced Concrete (R/C) causes 8% of this bill, ~ £158bnpa, £8bnpa in the UK. Therefore, improving R/C structural inspection will lead to a large reduction in repair costs can make a significant positive impact on the global economy. Currently, R/C inspection is carried out manually by a person positioned on expensive scaffolding or by abseiling, with this comes a high safety risk. The partners will address these problems by developing a prototype R/C climbing robot that
(i) deploys a precision non-contact GPR sensor for the detection of rebar and concrete corrosion and related defects, with 100% volume coverage and no scaffolding or abseiling.
(ii) Is umbilical free, enabling climbing to unlimited heights
(iii) Works autonomously in GPS/UWB controlled trajectories, adjustable by GPR sensor feedback for the avoidance of rebar-poor regions
(iv) Transfers NDT data by the wirelss link to a ground-based CPU.
(v) Is fail-safe and easily recoverable.