CCNY Robotics Lab and InnovBot Awarded FuzeHub Manufacturing Grant
CCNY Robotic Lab, in partner with InnovBot, has been awarded a FuzeHub manufacturing grant for $50,000 to design and fabricate five Wind-Rider robots and distribute them to stakeholders (wind blade manufacturers, blade testing facilities, wind-farms, etc.) to evaluate their performance. Feedback will be collected to improve Wind-Rider as a more mature product for providing visual & contact-based inspection of utility scale wind blades to benefit wind energy industry by means of improving quality control of blade manufacturing processes and in-service inspection of wind blades that will reduce O&M costs.
The Wind-Rider robot is unique because it has vertical mobility and is able to move on both convex and concave surfaces of a wind turbine blade. It can reach narrow and difficult to access locations inside the blade chamber collecting close-up video images and impact sounding data for detection of surface flaws and subsurface defects. For in-service inspection, Wind-Rider will be deployed from the wind tower cabin to adhere to turbine blades using the patented aerodynamic attraction technology. Wind-Rider carries an RGB-D camera and an impact sounding device to provide a comprehensive inspection of cracks and subsurface flaws. The robot transmits its data to a computer system that allows for further analysis and visualization of the inspection results. The Wind-Rider robot, together with the image/sound data processing software, high-accurate positioning and 3D mapping technology will provide a robotic solution to in-service inspection of wind blades as well as quality control of the blade manufacturing process in factory.
About FuzeHub Manufacturing Grants: FuzeHub is a not-for-profit organization providing small to medium-sized manufacturers with guided access to an extensive network of industry experts, programs, and resources to solve business growth challenges. As part of the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund, FuzeHub offers Manufacturing Grants to encourage collaboration between not-for-profit organizations and small to medium-sized manufacturing companies in New York State. The grants serve as a resource to help companies achieve success from early stage, proof of concept through maturity. The partnership created with the not-for-profit organization serves as a pathway to technology transfer, adoption and implementation of new manufacturing processes, as well as the creation of enhanced products and services.
To learn more about FuzeHub Manufacturing Grants
visit: https://fuzehub.com/manufacturing-grants/
