Bridges are built to last for decades, but sooner or later, they develop weaknesses which if not looked into, can be disastrous. Unfortunately, many people have lost their lives or sustained serious injuries when bridges have collapsed. Bridge inspections can be a tedious and costly process, which has led the state of Minnesota to turn to the cutting-edge technology offered by drones.

Easier, Cheaper, Better

For the longest time, bridge inspections have been a tedious process that involved lowering an inspector on a rope over the guard rails or using other specialized equipment. Most of these methods are quite expensive, with the government having to spend on average over $1 million for every bridge inspection. The bridge inspections are also quite labor intensive, unsafe and cause a lot of inconvenience to drivers.

Drones have become the easiest and most affordable way to inspect bridges. With over 55,000 bridges in need of repair in the US, drones couldn’t have come at a better time. The state of Minnesota began initial tests of drone inspection use as far back as 2015, and the results have been quite satisfactory.

Drones Work Hard

Drones scan bridges in their entirety, from the exposed parts to the very hard-to-reach cracks which people can’t access. While the weight of the inspectors and machinery can be too much for the aging and weak parts of bridges, drones have no such problem as they can hover about. The drones are fitted with very powerful cameras which take hundreds of pictures and even videos from every angle. These pictures and videos are then reconstructed into 3D images by specialized software. Structural engineers can study these images and get to know what needs fixing. All this is achieved at an extremely affordable rate.

Some of the drones being used for bridge inspections are specialized to perform this task. A good example is the Albris drone manufactured by SenseFly which has cameras that peer up and down increasing the scope of sight for the engineers. Elios, designed by Flyability, is another example of a specialized drone. It can crawl like a spider and get into small cracks or narrow holes, enabling the engineers to get a better understanding of the heath of the bridges.

Drones Learning from Mistakes

The state of Minnesota has been the unfortunate victim of one of the worst bridge disasters, hence it’s pioneering of this new method of inspections. 13 people lost their lives, with close to 150 more sustaining injuries after a bridge over the Mississippi River gave way, taking many down with it. This led the government to take action by investing heavily in drone technology for bridge inspections. The future of bridge safety looks extremely promising thank to drones and we can expect more states to follow suit.