Light-weight 3D LADAR System for Construction Robotic Operations

This paper presents an on-going research on a light-weight 3-dimensional (3D) laser distance and ranging (LADAR) system development at the Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) in University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The developed LADAR can be readily applied to several construction applications related to automated or robotic tasks, mobile robot navigation, reverse engineering, quality assurance/control, schedule control, and safety. A design concept of a LADAR system on a dynamic mobile platform is introduced which is especially designed for precise construction robotic operations such as welding, bolting, and connecting materials. Barriers for rapid 3D graphical workspace visualization at construction sites are discussed as well. The preliminary laboratory test results demonstrate that the 3D LADAR scanner developed in this study provides reliable scanned data. Unlike most of the heavy and bulky commercial LADAR products, the developed economical LADAR system can be used on mobile platforms and manipulators or confined area scanning applications due to its small size and light-weight characteristics.