Quadruped Inspection Robot System

Industrial-grade autonomous inspection system built on the Deep Robotics X30 quadruped platform, deployed for electrical substation inspection at PLN, Pertamina oil & gas facilities, and PTPN plantations.

🎯 Mission

Replace manual inspection walks in hazardous electrical substations with an autonomous robot that can:

• ▸Detect overheating components via thermal imaging
• ▸Navigate complex outdoor terrain with precise localization
• ▸Identify PPE compliance for personnel entering hazardous zones
• ▸Transmit real-time telemetry to operators via web dashboard

System Components

Hardware Platform

• ▸Base Robot — Deep Robotics X30 quadruped (also Lite3 for indoor tasks)
• ▸Thermal Camera — FLIR for component temperature monitoring
• ▸LiDAR — 3D point cloud for navigation and mapping
• ▸RTK GPS — Centimeter-level outdoor localization

Software Architecture

Robot Hardware (X30)
      ↓
  ROS2 Middleware
      ↓
 ┌────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌───────────────┐
 │ LIO Nav    │  │ PPE Detection│  │ Thermal Detect│
 │ (GPS+LiDAR)│  │ (YOLO v8)   │  │ (FLIR + CV)   │
 └────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └───────────────┘
      ↓
  Mission Controller
      ↓
  Web Dashboard (Next.js + WebSocket)

Key Technical Work

LIO Navigation (LiDAR-Inertial Odometry)

Resolved significant challenges with LIO in open outdoor environments (GPS-available) by fusing RTK GPS corrections into the LIO state estimate:

• ▸Drift correction during long traversals
• ▸Seamless indoor/outdoor transition
• ▸Reliable performance in high-electromagnetic-interference environments (substations)

PPE Detection Application

Implemented YOLOv8-based PPE detection to verify personnel are properly equipped before entering hazardous zones. Detects: hard hats, safety vests, safety boots.

Custom GUI Interface

Built operator-facing GUI for:

• ▸Live video feeds (thermal + RGB)
• ▸Robot state visualization
• ▸Waypoint mission programming
• ▸Anomaly logging and reporting

🛠 Tech Stack

• ▸ROS2 — robot middleware
• ▸Python + C++ — navigation and perception nodes
• ▸YOLOv8 — real-time object detection
• ▸FLIR SDK — thermal camera integration
• ▸Next.js — web monitoring dashboard
• ▸WebSocket — real-time telemetry streaming

Publications

This work contributed to the paper:

"Development of a Quadruped-Legged Robot for Position Estimation of Overheat Components in Electrical Substations Using a Thermal Camera"

Published as part of ongoing research at PT. Ezra Robotics Teknologi.