With over 250 infrastructures including bridges, underpasses, overpasses and walkways, Turin is preparing to introduce a new frontier in the maintenance of public works: the use of drones equipped with artificial intelligence for automatic and high-precision inspections.
On the proposal of the Councillor for Innovation Chiara Foglietta, the City Council approved the adhesion to the European project CAPRI – Cooperative UAVs Positioning for bRidge Inspection, promoted and funded by the ESA European Space Agency. The initiative, lasting two years and with a total value of about 1.5 million euros, sees TXT e-tech as the leader and also involves MAVTech, the LINKS Foundation and Inspectiondrone, together with the City of Turin as an institutional partner.
The municipal contribution amounts to 50,000 euros, half covered by the ESA and half by internal resources, without new costs for the city budget. In addition to financial support, Turin will provide pilot sites for experimentation and will offer regulatory and technical support for the validation of the technologies developed.
The main objective of the project is the creation of a fleet of autonomous drones capable of performing inspections even in hard-to-reach areas, such as the underside of bridges or areas with poor satellite signal. To ensure flight accuracy and the quality of detections, a hybrid GNSS-UWB positioning system will be used, capable of allowing drones to operate even in the absence of GPS.
The adoption of these technologies promises significant benefits: the elimination of roadblocks during checks, a cost reduction of up to 90% compared to traditional methods and the possibility of carrying out more frequent and accurate checks. High-resolution images, 3D models and thermographic and multispectral analyses will allow for early identification of any structural criticalities, improving safety and reducing the exposure of personnel to risk situations.
With CAPRI, Turin strengthens its vocation for technological innovation and paves the way for a model of intelligent maintenance of urban infrastructures, destined to become a reference at European level.
