This talk will concentrate on a use case of applying robotics to the field of marine vessel inspection. In specific, the research and engineering challenges of automating ship's hull inspection will be outlined and the necessity of introducing robotic platforms will be highlighted. Typical robotic platforms, such as UAVs, ROVs and Magnetic Crawlers, are revisited within the maritime inspection paradigm. In addition, the design and development of a portable, lightweight robotic arm hosted on top of different robots will be presented. Its key operation is both to increase the locomotion abilities of the hosting robot, and carry out ultrasonic thickness measurements, while providing adaptability and intelligence within the dynamic and harsh environment of the vessel. Finally, results and lessons-learnt from field studies will be presented.
Dr. Yannis Koveos is currently a Post - doctoral researcher with the AneMoS Group, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Patras, Greece. He received his diploma and PhD degree in 2004 and 2011 respectively from same institution. His PhD thesis was on fluid control and actuators with smart materials, which was partially funded by the MESEMA project.
Since 2004 he has worked as a researcher in several projects both from academia and private sector, mainly in the marine industry. During 2009-2013 he was assigned as the head of R&D dpt. at Glafcos Marine, working on applied research for marine inspection robotics. His research interests are related to mechatronics, adaptive control, and robotics.
