In this paper, a new demonstration-based path-planning framework for the visual inspection of large structures using UAVs is proposed. We introduce UPPLIED: UAV Path PLanning for InspEction through Demonstration, which utilizes a demonstrated trajectory to generate a new trajectory to inspect other structures of the same kind. The demonstrated trajectory can inspect specific regions of the structure and the new trajectory generated by UPPLIED inspects similar regions in the other structure. The proposed method generates inspection points from the demonstrated trajectory and uses standardization to translate those inspection points to inspect the new structure. Finally, the position of these inspection points is optimized to refine their view. Numerous experiments were conducted with various structures and the proposed framework was able to generate inspection trajectories of various kinds for different structures based on the demonstration. The trajectories generated match with the demonstrated trajectory in geometry and at the same time inspect the regions inspected by the demonstration trajectory with minimum deviation. The experimental video of the work can be found at https://youtu.be/YqPx-cLkv04.

翻译：本文提出了一种新的基于示范的路径规划框架，用于使用无人机对大型结构进行视觉巡检。我们引入了UPPLIED：通过示范实现无人机巡检路径规划（UAV Path PLanning for InspEction through Demonstration），该方法利用示范轨迹生成新轨迹，以检测同类结构中的其他结构。示范轨迹可检测结构的特定区域，而UPPLIED生成的新轨迹则能检测另一结构中的相似区域。所提方法从示范轨迹中生成巡检点，并通过标准化将这些巡检点映射至新结构进行检测。最终，通过优化这些巡检点的位置以改善其视角。针对不同结构开展了大量实验，该框架能够基于示范生成适用于不同结构的多种巡检轨迹。生成的轨迹在几何形态上与示范轨迹匹配，同时以最小偏差检测示范轨迹所覆盖的区域。本工作的实验视频详见https://youtu.be/YqPx-cLkv04。