On February 24, the world's first crude oil storage tank in-oil detection robot "Dolphin" led by the intelligent detection and monitoring science and innovation team of the China Special Equipment Testing Research Institute Park was exhibited at the 2nd Special Equipment Inspection and Testing Instrument and Equipment International Expo release.
It is reported that crude oil storage tanks need to undergo manual inspection, repair and restoration work every 4-6 years.
The "Dolphin" released this time can detect crude oil storage tanks without unloading oil, so as to realize accurate tank opening and maintenance, and avoid indiscriminate tank opening and maintenance.
At present, in the field of industrial production, traditional manual inspection has many problems such as low work efficiency, heavy labor, insufficient inspection workers, and harsh inspection environment. Both inspection safety and operating efficiency need to be improved.
With the development and maturity of artificial intelligence technology, and the popularization of Internet of Things, cloud computing and 5G technologies, intelligent inspection robots have gradually become one of the important means of industrial inspection and are widely used in various fields.
Widely used in various industries
The inspection robot is a robot used in the product quality inspection link in the industrial production process and the quality inspection link in the product use process.
With the continuous advancement of science and technology, the level of automation and intelligence of various equipment continues to increase. Compared with traditional testing equipment, testing robots use artificial intelligence technology, human-computer interaction technology, etc., to automatically perceive, identify, analyze, and judge product production and use. Various situations in the process can help the staff to make decisions, or directly solve the problems that arise.
In January of this year, 17 departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Education issued the "Implementation Plan for "Robot +" Application Action", proposing that the application of "Robot +" in key areas should be deepened to help intelligent construction.
Develop robotic products for infrastructure construction, inspection, operation, maintenance, and emergency response, and promote enterprises to break through key technologies such as movement, perception, and operation in complex environments.
In Chongqing, Suzhou and other places, the intelligent inspection robot dog inspects the power equipment and substations in the cable tunnel through its own infrared thermometer, gas monitoring system and inspection system; The EMU intelligent detection robot uses the image algorithm that combines deep learning and feature recognition, and adopts machine vision and other technologies to perform automatic detection on the EMU. Since it works under the car, it is not powered by the catenary on the roof And other restrictions, the efficiency of machine inspection is more than 2.5 times the efficiency of human inspection... With the intelligent transformation of all walks of life, in the fields of electric power, transportation, medical care, energy and other fields, intelligent inspection robots have gradually begun to appear.
It is reported that the application of intelligent detection robot technology and products has been relatively mature in factories, hospitals and other working environments where work tasks are relatively clear or have been streamlined.
However, in areas where there are specific functional design requirements for intelligent detection robots, or in areas where the working environment is relatively complex, the theoretical research and practical application of detection-type intelligent robots are still in their infancy.
Xing Guoliang, a professor of the Department of Information Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said that due to the diversity and complexity of different industries and different detection tasks, intelligent detection robots do not have a general fixed form, but with the continuous innovation and development of related technologies, "we will soon You will see a highly customizable, modular inspection robot solution."
Man-machine collaboration can be more efficient
Traditional infrastructure inspection and maintenance, such as inspection and maintenance of high-altitude high-voltage wires, rely on manual work, and there are problems such as heavy workload, great difficulty, and high risk.
Xing Guoliang believes that replacing traditional manpower with intelligent inspection robots for infrastructure inspections is becoming a major development trend in infrastructure operation and maintenance.
Will the rapid development of intelligent inspection robots completely replace human operations?
In fact, humans have irreplaceable advantages in terms of proficiency, flexibility and multi-task organization and management in the face of different tasks, while intelligent detection robots are suitable for performing more routine and time-consuming tasks in more dangerous environments.
Xing Guoliang said that more efficient detection tasks should be completed by human-machine cooperation.
At present, the man-machine collaborative operation mode is being practiced and applied continuously in the actual inspection work.
The "2022 China Intelligent Robot Industry Research Report" released by Shanghai iResearch Consulting Co., Ltd. pointed out that the emergence of collaborative robots allows robots and humans to share the workspace, and the human-machine collaboration method goes a step further.
Safety is the premise of human-machine cooperation, and intelligent control is the guarantee of safety.
The blessing of intelligent technology has continuously promoted the evolution of the human-machine cooperation model. In the future, it is expected to realize the in-depth joint operation of man-machine while taking into account factors such as cost, product, and performance.
Industry insiders believe that with the support of innovative technologies such as sensors and machine learning, the application of more intelligent inspection robots will help people overcome problems such as infrastructure troubleshooting.
The innovative development of these technologies will greatly improve the autonomy of intelligent inspection robots and the overall safety of inspection work.
Especially in some more urgent detection tasks, intelligent detection robots can help people detect a wider area in a shorter time.
For example, with the application of sensor fusion technology, the intelligent detection robot can splicing electromagnetic wave signals of different wavelengths together to provide more comprehensive data information detected by different signals; the backscattering technology of radio waves enables the intelligent detection robot to detect when it is blocked by objects. In the case of , the detection task can still be completed.
Xing Guoliang said: "In some highly specialized and equipment-dependent industries, such as metal fatigue detection, intelligent detection robots can be more accurate, comprehensive and efficient." (Science and Technology Daily reporter Li He)