There’s no doubt that drones are the hot technology item for the construction industry. They allow you inspect your overall site more quickly, take aerial photos for marketing and documentation, measure tonnage and volume of on-site stockpiles, and even monitor employee productivity. Now, one company has designed a drone that can safely inspect structures for damage and detect cracks as small as .0039 inches wide (.1mm), when fitted with an HD camera.
courtesy PRODRONE
The PD6-CI-L inspection drone was developed by Japanese company PRODONE in order to make it easier to inspect bridges and other infrastructure. Most drones are unable to handle wind gusts while also hovering close to the structure under inspection, so PRODRONE designed theirs to operate off of negative pressure, effectively “clinging” the drone to the structure. The L-shaped frame allows the device to not only inspect walls, but also ceilings.
In Japan, around 700,000 road bridges require structural inspections. The United States has roughly 607,000 bridges, of which 65,605 have been deemed structurally deficient. The vast amount of infrastructure across the world makes it difficult for all necessary repairs to be made at once, but technology like this new drone can only help the process. The model has an airframe weight of 13 pounds (6kg), can fly at a max speed of 3mph (5km/h) while inspecting, and has a maximum flight time of 10 minutes. It’s equipped with 6 wheels across the frame to allow it to roll up and down structures.
In the midst of fierce discourse over the bipartisan infrastructure bill lies a unique opportunity for the United States.