Fun Friday: Rough Terrain RVI

One of the obstacles of using inspection cameras (RVI) can be the presence of rough, unwelcoming terrain. This makes inspection using robotic crawlers and land based technologies difficult, and while drone RVI is expanding, there are often inspection technologies that are unable to be deployed by drones due to weight restrictions.

Robotics firm Boston Dynamics have been developing what may become a solution to this problem. RHex is a 13.6kg / 30 lb robot designed for mobility on rough terrain. Operated remotely via an RF link that includes a high-resolution video uplink, RHex can operate right-side-up or up-side down, as shown in the video, and goes for up to four hours on one charge of its batteries. RHex has been around for several years, but this version has been redesigned for ruggedness, long battery life, maintainability, and improved mobility. Funded by the US Army’s ‘Rapid Equipping Force’, technologies like these are bound to make their way to the NDT/RVI marketplace in the years to come. Check out the amazing video here: