Development of a Laboratory-scale Pipeline Inspection Robot

Robots are increasingly used in various industries and universities are actively involved in this field to promote the technology among the undergraduates. This work deals with the development of a laboratory-scale pipeline inspection robot that is based on LEGO Mindstorms for a faster mobility in horizontal pipeline. It employs color sensors to detect the cracks that are represented by different types of color tapes. Communication between two NXT bricks – MASTER and SLAVE through Bluetooth connection has been established for real-time data transmission. Data storage is done by transferring it from MASTER to PC browser. This robot could be used for laboratory experiments at undergraduate level teaching.