Newton Home » Inspector Home » Inspector Navigation

For more information on the
Inspector robot, contact: sales@newtonlabs.com

To view or download a PDF data sheet on the Inspector robot, CLICK HERE.

Precise Navigation of the Inspector Robot

Multiple inputs combine to deliver highly accurate positioning.

	Once the robot is deployed through the tank top hatch, the global positioning camera assembly is clamped to the hatch rim. The global positioning camera tracks the location and position of the robot's mast-top LED lights. In addition, the robot has on-board horizontal laser rangefinders on four sides that measure the distance to the tank wall, with a range of approximately six feet.
	The robot communicates through a power / data umbilical cable. The robot is capable of operating semi-autonomously, or under direct operator control. Search patterns, based upon tank sizes, footprints and internal floor structures, are pre-programmed into the system. The robot begins its inspection sequence by finding the tank wall and moving around the perimeter.
	The robot detects and maps where the cross-tank floor plate welds meet the wall. Upon completing the perimeter sweep, the robot follows each long welded joint and detects the short, intersecting welds. This enables the system software to map the location of the individual floor plates as well as any obstructions such as piping or structural supports.
	After identifying all floor plates, the robot is directed to scan the area of individual plates with the attached sensor package, using a "lawn-mowing" pattern to insure complete coverage. The robot is able to sense obstacles in its intended path and stop before the sensors are damaged. The operator can assume manual steering using the on-board video imaging.

The Inspector is precisely positioned within a tank using a combination of inputs: the vertical video view from the global positioning camera at the top of the tank, as well as the forward, rearward, lateral and down-looking views from five on-board cameras and four laser range finders.
The information from these sources, in addition to direction, speed and position inputs from sensors in the drive motors and wheel pods, is processed by the software to create a virtual tank floor environment and robot avatar.The operator can visually track and when necessary, control the robot with keyboard commands in the virtual environment using the avatar. The user interface numerically displays the precise XY-axis location of the robot. The virtual blue line represents the path the robot has traveled on the tank floor.

Repeatable, Stored Precision

• Locations of defects are pin-pointed to within 1/8th inch (3 mm) and the coordinates are correlated to the plate weld map and saved in the system.
• After moving on, a few keystrokes by the operator can send the robot back to the same location, based on the saved coordinates.
• Even if the robot is removed from the tank and redeployed back in at a later date, once the system associates the tank floor weld pattern with the stored weld map, the robot can return to the point of the defects.

Inspector robots offer plant operators the most advanced nondestructive evaluation (NDE) tank inspection services currently available in the nuclear industry. The selection of inspection services include:

• Examination of water-filled or dry tanks
• Repair of water-filled or dry tanks
• Underwater laser scanning and 3D modeling
• Phased array UT and eddy current NDE surveys
• Real-time video inspection
• Weld inspection and mapping
• Tank cleaning
• Weld inspection vacuum box

Newton Labs has partnered with Sonic Systems to provide the non-destructive (NDE) inspection technology for the Newton Underwater Nuclear Robotic tank inspection. This combined service will be the most advanced underwater NDE tank inspection and robotic repair service currently available in the nuclear industry. This service is now available for both water and diesel tanks.