Perceptual Robotics has expanded its range of drone-based inspections with automated inspections of wind turbine towers.

Thanks to the development of improved path planning algorithms, which allow our drones to autonomously navigate around the tower and blades with precision and safety, our inspections now use LiDAR and cameras to accurately map the environment.

This development reduces the cost and time required for wind turbine tower inspections while increasing accuracy and guaranteeing full, repeatable inspection coverage.

These updates also make it easy for pilots to switch between blade and tower inspections, or to complete a combined inspection of blades and tower, by including an improved user interface. Customers can choose the type of inspection that suits their needs best.

As part of this process, Perceptual Robotics has also generalised and extended its data processing platform; it will soon be possible to process images from both tower and combined inspections.

New inspection data is continually being integrated into the platform to improve machine learning models and enhance the accuracy of automated damage location predictions. This will continue to improve the speed of processing, consistency of damage reporting and, ultimately, of the maintenance actions resulting from these inspections.

Customers can view the results from both inspections through our Web Portal or comprehensive maintenance reports. These processing and visualization tools allow customers an easy navigation through the structures and makes their life easier by providing them access to all of their data in a single location.