Interview with Mr. Takumi Shibata, President and CEO of Japan Infrastructure Waymark-Japan Infrastructure Waymark, which will streamline bridge inspection work and lead to work style reforms with a drone that can be operated with a smartphone.

As public infrastructure ages, the number of engineers who maintain it is declining, so efficient infrastructure maintenance has become an issue.

On the other hand, drones are being widely used for various inspection work, and are attracting attention as a solution that helps ensure the safety of workers and shortens time.

Japan Infrastructure Waymark Co., Ltd. (JIW) has developed a drone specializing in bridge inspection work and provides bridge inspection work using the drone as a total service.

This time, we asked Mr. Takumi Shibata, President and CEO of JIW, about the background of the development of the drone and the background of the practical application of the new technology. (Interviewer, Koji Koizumi, Representative of IoT NEWS)

table of contents

Total support for drone inspection work

IoTNEWS Koji Koizumi (hereinafter referred to as Koizumi): Please tell us what kind of business you are doing.

Mr. Takumi Shibata (hereinafter referred to as Shibata), President and CEO of JIW: JIW conducts infrastructure inspections using drones in the form of total maintenance services.

In addition to that, we also provide support services such as education and training related to drones and drone rental.

Established in April 2019, the company is currently expanding rapidly with 39 employees (as of November 2020). As a result, last year we inspected 1500 facilities nationwide in one year.

The services are divided into three types: drone pilot service, that is, aerial photography outsourcing service DaaS (Drone as a Service), cloud service (SaaS), and AIaaS.

AIaaS is a combination of AI and IaaS (inspection [building condition survey] as a service).

The basis of the service is turnkey, and our strength is that we can consistently handle the process of creating inspection reports.

Originally, the company mainly provides inspection work, which provides total inspection work, but some customers want to request only aerial photography or use only cloud services, so we also offer only a part of it. We are here.

Our technology is listed in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's Inspection Assistance Technology Performance Catalog, and is designated as a drone that allows you to go inside the intricate girders under the bridge and photograph the back and interior.

Our drone-based system has been adopted as a technology to promote the new standard "i-Construction" for improving the productivity of construction sites of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Under these circumstances, with the support of the government, we are developing advanced systems while listening to their needs, and as a result, we are inspecting bridges and steel towers owned by railway companies, telecommunications companies, and various other infrastructure companies. I went to.

In addition, we have set up a company with the concept of "I want to support the people who support me." With the cooperation of companies that carry out inspection work locally, we carry out drone inspection work from infrastructure companies in cooperation with the cooperating companies.

By spreading the inspection drones and procedure methods created by JIW throughout Japan, we aim to enable highly productive maintenance and management throughout Japan, regardless of region.

A drone that recognizes the surrounding situation in real time from the image acquired by the camera

Shibata: The drone that JIW handles in drone inspection is attracting attention as the "Skydio R2 for Japanese Inspection [commonly known as J2] (hereinafter, J2)", which has been improved for inspection purposes.

As for flight performance, in addition to being able to fly under bridges that GPS does not reach, it is possible to fly even in complicated girders because it recognizes obstacles while flying and automatically avoids them.

Since it recognizes the surrounding situation in real time, it can take off and land from the palm of your hand. This is because the hand is not recognized as an obstacle, but as a place where it can take off and land. In addition, the built-in 4K camera allows you to shoot at a fairly close distance, so you can shoot even small cracks and cracks.

The reason why J2 can fly while recognizing obstacles is that it constantly senses the surrounding situation while shooting it with a camera.

The GPU mounted on the drone generates a point cloud in real time for the pictures taken by the six cameras attached to the top and bottom of the aircraft. The drone body checks these and flies while recognizing that there are no obstacles around.

Conventional drones are equipped with a compass and a compass, but J2 does not use a compass, etc., check where to go while watching the image sent from the drone, and operate it with a smartphone.

As for how to actually inspect the bridge, the part above the flange (the protruding part of the steel frame, the edge) where dust easily accumulates and deteriorates, the inside of the girder, the part where the floor plate is confirmed, the part where the bolt is confirmed, etc. I'm inspecting by skipping the drone. Until now, these rusty parts have been inspected by a bridge inspection vehicle or rope access, but by using a drone, it is possible to check safely without incurring costs.

Koizumi: You can fly even in a fairly narrow space.

Shibata: That's right. And this drone can be operated with a smartphone. The drone will stop at a set distance and you can avoid obstacles in between and get closer to the object. I think these are major innovations that have made drones accessible to the general public.

Inspections using conventional drones were carried out by three people, a drone pilot with drone maneuvering skills, a safety guard, and an inspector with qualifications for inspection work.

In that respect, J2 is expected to be more productive because the inspector can easily operate the drone by himself.

When you think of a drone, you might think of it as a crash, but the J2 can fly while reducing the risk of collision with an obstacle sensor.

Koizumi: I have an image that drones cannot be operated as expected. Was there a chance to try this method?

Shibata: There was a case where we had to do it in an environment where GPS could not be obtained, and we had to think of a drone that could fly even in such an environment.

At first, I thought about loading LiDAR, but I couldn't install it because the price would be high.

Koizumi: It's difficult if you don't charge a lot.

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Shibata: Well, the aircraft would be heavy and unrealistic. Therefore, we considered a method that can generate a rough but point cloud with a technology called visual SLAM, which is equipped with a light and inexpensive camera.

Koizumi: How much can the wind handle?

Shibata: According to the specifications, it can withstand winds of up to 11m / s. However, it is limited to 5m / s because gusts occur in narrow places.

Koizumi: Is the size of the aircraft about the same as DJI's phantom?

Shibata: Well, it's about 25 cm, not including the propeller part. The inspector puts it in a backpack and heads to the inspection site.

Koizumi: You can easily carry it around and inspect it. How long did the drone development itself take?

Shibata: It took about three years from the first machine.

At the time of development, it was difficult to process the visual SLAM technology 360 degrees in real time, so it was not possible. We have been developing with domestic and foreign companies, and finally we have developed the aircraft introduced this time with the American venture company Skydio, and we have reached the point where we can safely inspect it.

Drone sharing service

Shibata: We are also planning an SDP (Sharing Drone Platform) that allows people who currently have infrastructure equipment to share their drones and use them only when needed.

If it becomes possible to share drones through infrastructure inspections, we believe that it will be possible to utilize drones for logistics and transportation.

NTT Group, which is also our investment company, owns about 10,000 buildings. We are trying to utilize them to develop a drone base that will be a sharing drone platform. In the near future, we plan to prepare an environment that can be used not only by infrastructure inspections but also by various businesses.

Koizumi: There were many talks that the drone itself could not beat the one made in China, so I think that many drone developers are trying to develop software such as air traffic control with the aim of flying in the neglected world.

However, if it is guaranteed that you can control the attitude like your drone, you can use it more widely.

Shibata: Unlike consumers, enterprises have sharp requirements, so I think there is still plenty of room for new aircraft to emerge. We focused only on the part of "flying under the bridge where GPS cannot be obtained", but there are various conditions such as at night, in a very narrow place, and in a dusty place.

I think there is a good chance that many customers will support us if we seriously build an aircraft that meets these enterprise requirements and specializes in niche areas.

Koizumi: When I heard this story, I really felt the possibility.

Eliminate the issues that arise when using drones and create an environment that is easy to use

Koizumi: I have an image of drone operation, but what kind of support service does your company provide for inspection work?

Shibata: Inspection work is divided into two types: outside work and inside work. If you use our service in an outside business that involves on-site work, it will lead to a cost reduction of about 60%.

In order for a drone to be adopted for inspection, the construction consultant who is the contractor first compares the cost and performance, selects the inspection technology and proposes it to the orderer, and the orderer who has the infrastructure discusses and approves from the proposal. It has become a flow.

In order to select a technology, it is necessary to confirm the performance from various viewpoints such as safety and quality.

Therefore, for bridge inspections, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has created an inspection support technology performance catalog, which lists the technologies that are expected to be effective for maintenance and management after testing and evaluation, and the companies that provide them. JIW and J2 are listed in their performance catalogs as technologies that can capture the inside of the girder under the bridge.

In addition, since the drone inspection is still a new technology, we have not accumulated knowledge about the optimum business process and required operation and cost, so we have conducted the necessary examination through PoC with the customer.

In addition, regarding the inspection deliverables, we also conducted an examination on how to put together the images obtained by conducting a survey with a drone in the inspection record currently in use, and said that an efficient and easy-to-see deliverable was created. think.

Promote robotics and change the way we work

Koizumi: Are there any other fields you would like to develop toward the future?

Shibata: If the automation of external business and the automation of internal business by AI can be realized, the next is robotics in the areas of "diagnosis", "preventive maintenance", and "repair" that are downstream. We would like to expand the scope and further reduce the burden on the site.

However, I would like to continue to focus on inspection work for a while. It is said that there are currently 730,000 bridges in Japan, but the number of bridges is 600,000 in the United States, which is 25 times larger than Japan, and 800,000 in China, which is about the same. There is still much work to be done.

Koizumi: It's an industry with only potential. I think that what we can do by collecting more data and improving image technology will change in the future. When I hear these stories, I feel that various things can be automated more and more.

Shibata: I would like to reform my work style someday. I would like to promote work style reform by promoting robotics and make it an industry that young people aspire to.

Koizumi: Where do you need on-site know-how?

Shibata: It is necessary to classify the parts to be checked at the time of inspection, and the extent to which deformation / change, rust and cracks have progressed with respect to the parts. And the know-how on how to put them together in a fixed format is accumulated in inspection companies and other people who have been involved in inspection work.

We are promoting our business with the participation of people with such know-how. We are also working on new technology development by creating standards necessary for AI learning and judging whether it is good or bad.

I hope that the technology and know-how that was born in this way will spread to all the companies that support the site, realize efficient maintenance and management throughout Japan, and create a safe and secure society.

Koizumi: It's a business that people originally did. With the introduction of digital technology in such places, the way we work will change, and we can see the possibility of increasing automation at once.

Shibata: I definitely want to make it happen.

Koizumi: Thank you for your time today.

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