January 8th, 2025
INSPIRE UTC @Missouri S&T Showcases at the 2025 TRB Annual Meeting

Since 2017, the INSPIRE UTC (https://inspire-utc.mst.edu) has conducted research on emerging technologies such as robotics, remote sensing, robot-assisted nondestructive testing, and artificial intelligence. For the first time, the INSPIRE UTC will showcase some of the latest technologies to support automated bridge inspection at the 2025 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Washington DC, on January 5-9, 2025. The INSPIRE UTC Booth #538 is located next to the FHWA demonstration area as indicated in the following floor plan of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Specific technologies that will be displayed and demonstrated in the TRB Exhibition Hall include:

• Magnetic-wheeled hybrid drone that combines the flying and traversing capabilities for steel-girder bridge inspection.
• Mechanic-wheeled hybrid drone that can operate on both steel- and concrete-girder bridges for detailed inspection and launch a structural crawler on steel bridges.
• Palm-size crawler equipped with a microscope, which can traverse to crowded areas for detailed inspection of steel weld connections.
• Structural crawler equipped with a crack depth probe and a haptic sensor, which can measure the depth of cracks on steel welds remotely.