Development of a Robotic system for Power Transmission Line Inspection

Routine inspection of power transmission lines is essential for maintaining service continuity in electric grid. Even if the manual inspection by power system personnel is the prevailing method in India, it poses a perilous condition. The use of robotic devices employing helicopters, drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles have the drawbacks of being costly and unreliable. A cost-effective robotic system for the inspection of 11 kV transmission line utilizing image processing approach for the identification of power line fault is proposed. Through the graphical user interface, real time monitoring of the transmission line is enabled. This system is capable of measuring the atmospheric parameters for establishing a safe operating environment for the robot.