Students Build Ship Inspecting Robot

First time accepted submitter Hallie Siegel writes "A team of students from ETH Zurich and ZHdK have developed a prototype for a robotic ship inspection unit that is capable of conducting visual inspections of ship ballasts. Ballast inspection – which involves navigating hard-to-reach spots with no line of sight, often in the presence of intense heat, humidity, and hazardous gases – is normally done by human inspectors, and represents a significant cost to ship-owners who must pay for dry-docking and who face lost income when they cannot operate their ships during the inspection period. Because robotic ship inspection can occur while the ship is in operation, it could significantly reduce dry-dock time. The Ship Inspection Robot (SIR), which was developed in conjunction with Alstom Inspection Robotics and which uses magnetic wheels to navigate the I-beams and other awkward obstacles found inside ship ballast, is relatively compact and does not require any cables for power or communication, and thus offers significant mobility improvements over other robotic ship inspection prototypes. Project leaders anticipate that a per unit production cost could be as low as €4K, enabling shipping companies to operate several units in parallel as an additional time-saving measure."

Comments

Generally ...

[ackthpt]

This largest problem with ships is the loose nut on the wheel.

The power of magnetism

[Animats]

It's a nice tribute to the power of modern permanent magnets. It's really just an R/C car with a camera and magnetic wheels. The magnets are strong enough that it can drive vertically, or even upside down, on a steel surface. It's wide, with a very short wheelbase, so it can go around sharp vertical corners.

Merrill Stubing

[themushroom]

The acting on 'The Love Boat' was previous art of robots inspecting ships.

Kilroy

[CanHasDIY]

It's really the only appropriate name for such a machine.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10932011

My plan

[nytes]

My next project is to create a Ship Inspecting Robot Retrieval Robot (SIRRR), to go in and fetch disabled SIRs, or SIRs with prematurely run down batteries. Of course, I'll also build a SIRRRRR, in case SIRRRs become disabled.

I'll make a fortune!

Fails on give a damn

[onyxruby]

Look, if your in a first world country this kind of thing has a great deal of meaning as labor costs are high, safety means something and nobody wants to take an asset out of service. However in the real world the vast majority of ships fly a flag of convenience from a country like Panama and maintenance is the absolute minimum possible as those countries give safety and other concerns lip service only.

It's why ships crews can work out of places like the US for cruises but completely ignore things like labor laws. Think of a ship (not boat) that doesn't belong to a countries navy, now google that ship and look for the flag it's flying. Chances are /really/ good that flag has nothing to do with the country it operates out of.

Companies like Carnival could easily resolve their ship stranding issues by adopting maintenance standards used in other countries, but that costs money and they don't want to spend that. As long as they can pass the safety inspection to dock that is all they care about. Why do you think older ships get renamed and sold after every 10 years? After about 30 years that once glamorous cruise ship, might cargo ship, oil tanker or whatever will simply end up being broken on a beach in India because it's cheaper.

Your talking about an industry that has spent centuries learning how to take advantage of international differences in law to avoid spending money on labor. Before that? There were no regulations requiring it to begin with. These kinds of companies aren't going to dry dock their ships unless they really absolutely have to, and then they'd probably rather sell the ship.

Re:Fails on give a damn

[Deb-fanboy]

I work as a ship inspector. I test the control systems in ships with Dynamic Positioning systems as my speciality, but I also occasionaly inspect tanks, including ballast tanks I thought I might give a bit of general background to the type of inspections that go on with vessels, and who does them. In addition to the Flag State, there is the Port State, and the Classification Society, so there are actually three sets of inspections that can happen to a ship. The Flag State's job is to interperate the International Maritime Organisation IMO rules for the vessel. These are the rules which have been agreed by all members of the IMO, so this will include SOLAS for basic safety, and IOPP which sets rules designed to limit oil polution as two examples. The Classification Society predates the IMO regulations, it started with Lloyds of London in the 18th century, and soon after it was required to have the stamp from a classification society in order to be able to insure your vessel/cargo. The classification have their own rules and encompass all the major systems and structures that make a vessel sound. In addition there is the port state who can ask for a spot inspection of any vessel that comes into the country's port, and detain any that does not come up to scratch. Detention is the nightmare for any trading ship owner, so this is the stick that they most fear. Port state is informed of any vessel coming into their harbours, and if the flag state, or class society has any oustanding deficiencies related to the vessel, or if the flag state or class society are not top rated, then they will board and inspect the vessel, and likely detain it. Both Flag and Class require wide ranging annual inspections, and larger scopes every 5 years (on what is refered to a 'renewal' survey) Panama by the way is not a bad flag as they go, it is in my humble opinion as good as the MCA or UK flag state. Hope this explains how it all works, must go I have a ship to inspect ...