InnovBot Awarded Competitive SBIR II Grant from the National Science Foundation
InnovBot LLC has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) phase-II grant for $866,830 to conduct research and development (R&D) work on Robotic Inspection and Data Analytics to Localize and Visualize the Structural Defects of Civil Infrastructure.
InnovBot is developing two robotic inspection systems for ground survey and inspection of vertical surfaces to detect and visualize both surface flaws and subsurface defects of infrastructure (i.e., high-ways, bridges, tunnels, dams, buildings) using cameras and ground penetrating radar (GPR). The use of the robotic inspection systems will allow the evaluation and inspection tasks to be performed significantly faster, more thoroughly, with minimal safety risk to workers and at a lower cost by eliminating the need for scaffolding and blocking traffic. The most significant innovation of this project is the automatic 3D GPR imaging method that combines robot control and vision-based accurate positioning with GPR signal processing to locate the subsurface defects and embedment (rebar, pipes, fractures, voids, delamination, etc.) in concrete structures that will revolutionize the way GPR data is collected, interpreted and displayed. This method enables the GPR-Rovers to scan the surface in arbitrary and irregular trajectory to locate subsurface targets and discover the areas of delamination, thus eliminating the time, hassle and cost to layout gridlines and make it possible to automate the data collection process with minimum human intervention especially at difficult-to-access locations and make inspection results easier to understand through the effective data analysis software.
About the National Science Foundation's Small Business Programs:
America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF awards $200+ million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $1.5 million in non-dilutive funds to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $8.1 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.
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