Crawler Inspection Robot with Machine Vision (Lifelong Endevour)

The presence of foreign objects (FO) in an aircraft can mean failure to achieve a mission's objective, loss of aircraft, or a catastrophic failure such as loss of life. Currently, Lockheed Martin inspection methods for foreign objects include a person accessing very tight areas that have the potential for FO to be present. There is a need that has been identified to remove the person from this very tight/potentially hazardous area that is being inspected and placing them behind the control center of a remote inspection system that can identify, objectively, whether or not FO is present or not. The proposed inspection system will integrate a machine vision system capable of automatically identifying and qualifying certain features and attributes with an automatically or remotely controlled vehicle that is capable of maneuvering and accessing hard to reach areas of high importance. The system's status and controls will be shown on a user interface for the person overseeing the inspection as well as a different user interface for personnel observing the inspection. Objects that have not passed the inspection criteria will be identified a record will be generated automatically in a report of the inspection. The video of the inspection will be archived for future reference. This document will provide an overview of the development of the system that UTEP has produced for Phase 1 of the Crawler Project.