Object Detection and Avoidance for Infrastructure Inspection Equipment

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Kinemek designs and builds equipment for the mining industry that is safe and easy to operate. They havedeveloped a series of products which combine self height adjusting arms with a GPR (ground penetratingradar) sensors to scan the subsurface of the mine back to determine the composition of aggregates and detect where structural problems exist in the mine back (mine ceiling). While these products work well for mines,they would like to gain market share in infrastructure management by creating equipment to locate and track deteriorating infrastructure and determine its health. To do this, they are currently developing an innovativenext generation product that will have increased functionality over the current arm designs enabling scanning of an increased variety of infrastructure. This arm will be multi-positional and oscillating, targeting the walls inaddition to the ceilings of mines, tunnels, and overpasses to scan for subsurface defects and problems that may lead to safety concerns. The next generation arm requires the GPR sensor to be automatically moved out of the way of obstacles sensed, such as lights, signage, cables, and pipes. This would be accomplished by one or moresensors that can detect the obstacles.