Development of unmanned inspection equipment for underwater damages of harbor facilities

In Korea, the old harbor facilities are increasing. Thus, damages of the structures are easily induced due to unexpected accidents such as natural disasters. These damages of the structures can be reduced by the continuous maintenance of the facilities. A project in Korea recently commenced to develop and make practicable unmanned inspection equipment for underwater damages of harbor structures to increase the work effectiveness and human safety in underwater. Also, it can reduce the continuous maintenance cost. In this study, the specification of the equipment and concept design were determined for the parts of mobility mechanism, underwater positioning, and inspection method. The model was manufactured and tested in a lab water tank. The results of this research can be expected to increase the underwater work effectiveness and to practically utilize to the real field for inspection of the underwater damages of harbor facilities with the developed equipment.