Collaborative robot for visually inspecting an aircraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9952593-B2
Application number	US-201415030845-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 23, 2014
Priority date	Oct 24, 2013
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

A device for visually inspecting the external surfaces of an aircraft includes an inspection area to receive an aircraft, at least one visual inspection robot, and a control center. A movable platform of the robot supports a turret having an observation unit. The robot includes a processing unit which guides the movable platform and process the data received from the observation unit. The processing unit of the robot are configured to autonomously control the robot during the visual inspection of the external surfaces of the aircraft parked in the inspection area; to interrupt a visual inspection in the event of a detection of an anomaly on the external surface of the aircraft; to transmit a visual inspection data to the control center; and to receive instructions from the control center.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A visual inspection device to visually inspect exterior surfaces of an aircraft parked in an inspection area, comprising
a visual inspection robot comprising a mobile platform carrying a turret with a camera and a processor to guide the mobile platform and process information received from the camera;
a control center with a station for at least one control operator; and
wherein the processor of the visual inspection robot:
drives the visual inspection robot autonomously during a visual inspection of the exterior surfaces of the aircraft parked in the inspection area;
detects an anomaly on the exterior surfaces of the aircraft during an on-going visual inspection;
interrupts the on-going visual inspection;
determines a position of the detected anomaly with respect to elements of an internal structure of the aircraft which are not visible from outside of the aircraft;
process data of the detected anomaly as a function of the position to perform a diagnosis of the detected anomaly;
transmits the diagnosis and visual inspection information of the detected anomaly that interrupted the visual inspection to the control center; and
waits for instructions from the control center as to an action to perform after the visual inspection interruption.

2. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the visual inspection robot comprises a position detector to determine at any time during the course of the visual inspection a position of the visual inspection robot and an orientation of the camera in an axis system connected with the aircraft.

3. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the processor of the visual inspection robot determines the position of the visual inspection robot and the orientation of the camera by processing images of the aircraft being inspected and that are obtained by the camera.

4. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 2 , in which the visual inspection robot comprises an absolute-location device, the absolute-location device is at least one of the following: a GPS receiver, optometry or laser telemeters aimed at reference targets and a movement integration device.

5. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processor comprises a data storage unit to store data at least temporarily comprising at least one of geometric and graphic characteristics of the aircraft being inspected.

6. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processor comprises a data storage unit to store data comprising anomaly characteristics to provide an anomalies library.

7. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processor comprises an image processor to detect, in images transmitted by the camera, anomalies visible to the viewing unit in a wavelength belonging to an optical spectrum.

8. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the camera comprises an illuminating element configured to illuminate a light from a visible domain, from an infrared domain or from an ultraviolet domain.

9. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the camera and the processor determine a three-dimensional shape of inspected exterior surfaces of the aircraft.

10. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a testing device to perform a non-destructive testing of a structure of the aircraft.

11. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the visual inspection robot performs all or some of the non-destructive testing.

12. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 10 , wherein all or some of the non-destructive testing is performed by at least one control robot controlled by the visual inspection robot.

13. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the camera is orientable in an elevation and in an azimuth with respect to a frame of reference of the mobile platform of the visual inspection robot.

14. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the visual inspection robot is configured to travel by rolling over the ground of the inspection area or by hovering in a volume a footprint of which corresponds substantially to the inspection area.

15. The visual inspection device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of inspection robots configured to jointly perform the visual inspection of one and same aircraft.

16. A visual inspection method for a visual inspection of an aircraft with the visual inspection device according to claim 1 , comprising steps of:
transmitting images of an exterior surface of the aircraft being inspected to the processor of the visual inspection robot;
analyzing the images by the processor to identify a presence of any potential visible anomalies; and
wherein, in response to the detection of an anomaly, the processor of the visual inspection robot:
interrupts the on-going visual inspection of the visual inspection robot;
determines the position of the detected anomaly with respect to the elements of the internal structure of the aircraft which are not visible from outside of the aircraft;
process data of the detected anomaly as a function of the position to perform a diagnosis of the detected anomaly;
transmits the diagnosis and data relating to the detected anomaly that interrupted the visual inspection to the control center; and
waits for instructions from the control center as to an action to perform after the visual inspection interruption.

17. The visual inspection method as claimed in claim 16 , in response to an interruption of the visual inspection due to the detected anomaly, instructions are transmitted to the visual inspection robots by the control center to continue with the visual inspection, the visual inspection robot continues with the visual instruction in accordance with the instructions.

18. The visual inspection method as claimed in claim 16 , further comprising the step of calculating an amplitude of the visible anomaly by the processor using at least one of an optical sensor to measure deformations and colorimetric analysis in at least one of a visible, infrared and ultraviolet domain of a light spectrum.

19. The visual inspection method as claimed in claim 16 , in response to the detection of the visible anomaly, a zone affected by the visible anomaly is subjected to a non-destructive testing by the visual inspection robot or a non-destructive testing robot controlled by the visual inspection robot.

20. The visual inspection method as claimed in claim 16 , further comprising a step of performing an analysis of images transmitted by the camera of particular zones in the exterior surfaces of the aircraft by comparison with stored virtual depictions corresponding to said particular zones.

21. The visual inspection method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the processor performs and transmits to the control center the diagnosis or a list of possible diagnosis as a function of their probability given a typology of the anomaly processed.

22. The visual inspection device according to claim 1 , wherein the camera and the processor identify at least one of contrast and color singularities on at least one of the exterior surfaces of the aircraft and on ground zones underneath the aircraft.

Assignees

• Airbus Group Sas
• Airbus

Inventors

• Colin Nicolas
• Guibert Frank

Classifications

• Y10S901/44

  inspection · CPC title

• G05D1/0038 Primary

  by providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras located onboard the vehicle, e.g. tele-operation (images analyzed by a computer and used for automatic navigation G05D1/0246) · CPC title

• B25J5/007 Primary

  mounted on wheels · CPC title

• G01N29/04

  Analysing solids (using acoustic emission techniques G01N29/14) · CPC title

• B25J19/023

  including video camera means · CPC title