Coverage path planning with targetted viewpoint sampling for robotic free-form surface inspection

Sampling-Based Coverage Path Planning for Inspection of Complex Structures

We present several new contributions in sampling-based coverage path planning, the task of finding feasible paths that give 100% sensor coverage of complex structures in obstaclefilled and visually occluded environments. First, we establish a framework for analyzing the probabilistic completeness of a sampling-based coverage algorithm, and derive results on the completeness and convergence of e...

Free-Form Surface Matching for Surface Inspection

Path and View Planning for Underwater Surface Inspection

We discuss the problem of active inspection of a marine structure by an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The AUV must plan a path of sensing views that estimates the difference between two surfaces: one reconstructed from prior data, and one reconstructed online during inspection. We propose modeling the structure’s surface using non-parametric Bayesian regression, which allows for a number...

Tool Path Planning for Machining Free-form Surfaces

This paper is about new iso-parametric tool path planning for machining trimmed freeform surfaces. The trimmed surface has been re-parameterized by two different parameterization techniques, namely, the partial differential equation method and the newly developed boundary interpolation method. The efficiency of the scheme has been measured in terms of path length and computational time needed f...

Iso-level tool path planning for free-form surfaces

The aim of tool path planning is to maximize the efficiency against some given precision criteria. In practice, scallop height should be kept constant to avoid unnecessary cutting, while the tool path should be smooth enough to maintain a high feed rate. However, iso-scallop and smoothness often conflict with each other. Existing methods smooth iso-scallop paths one-by-one, which make the final...