A Novel Hybrid Aerial-Ground Manipulator for Pipeline Inspection tasks

Autonomous inspection of industrial pipelines in Oil & Gas refiners represents an emerging research and application field. In this context, we present a novel hybrid aerial ground mobile platform for inspection tasks. The goal of this platform is to assist human operators to perform non-destructive tests to assess the quality status of pipelines carrying fluids. Thanks to its design, the proposed platform is able to navigate crowded environments to reach and land over industrial pipes and use its motion capabilities to inspect the pipe surface. In this work, we introduce the mechanical design of the hybrid platform discussing its main components, demonstrating its flying and inspection capabilities.