Large-scale infrastructures are prone to deterioration due to age, environmental influences, and heavy usage. Ensuring their safety through regular inspections and maintenance is crucial to prevent incidents that can significantly affect public safety and the environment. This is especially pertinent in the context of electrical power networks, which, while essential for energy provision, can also be sources of forest fires. Intelligent drones have the potential to revolutionize inspection and maintenance, eliminating the risks for human operators, increasing productivity, reducing inspection time, and improving data collection quality. However, most of the current methods and technologies in aerial robotics have been trialed primarily in indoor testbeds or outdoor settings under strictly controlled conditions, always within the line of sight of human operators. Additionally, these methods and technologies have typically been evaluated in isolation, lacking comprehensive integration. This paper introduces the first autonomous system that combines various innovative aerial robots. This system is designed for extended-range inspections beyond the visual line of sight, features aerial manipulators for maintenance tasks, and includes support mechanisms for human operators working at elevated heights. The paper further discusses the successful validation of this system on numerous electrical power lines, with aerial robots executing flights over 10 kilometers away from their ground control stations.

翻译：大型基础设施因老化、环境影响及高负荷使用而易于退化。通过定期巡检与维护保障其安全，对于预防可能严重影响公共安全与环境的事故至关重要。这一点在电力网络领域尤为突出——尽管电力网络是能源供应的关键，但也可能成为森林火灾的源头。智能无人机有望革新巡检与维护工作，消除人类操作员的风险，提高生产效率，缩短巡检时间，并提升数据收集质量。然而，当前空中机器人领域的大多数方法和技术主要是在室内试验台或严格受控的室外条件下进行试验，且始终处于人类操作员的视线范围内。此外，这些方法和技术通常被孤立评估，缺乏全面集成。本文介绍了首个结合多种创新空中机器人的自主系统。该系统专为超视距长距离巡检而设计，具备用于维护任务的空中机械臂，并包含对高空作业人类操作员的支撑机制。本文进一步讨论了该系统在众多电力线上的成功验证——空中机器人在距地面控制站超过10公里处执行了飞行任务。