Mimicking human autonomy in industrial robotic enabled sensing

Humans have an immediate perception of shapes and surroundings through their senses and their cognitive capabilities. This innate ability enables the manual inspection of components in manufacturing environments. Trained inspectors combine their senses and handling skills with bespoke non-destructive testing instrumentation. However, manual inspections can be slow for large and/or complex geometries and prone to human factors. Automated non-destructive testing systems have emerged in recent years, to increase data acquisition speed, part coverage and inspection reliability. These tools work well when the robotic inspection takes place in a well-structured environment and an accurate part mo…