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Eucentre’s U-AInSPECT project Wins in the ICAERUS PULL 2 Open Call.

Eucentre Foundation, with its project U-AInSPECT, has been selected as one of the winners of the PULL 2 Open Call of the ICAERUS project. This achievement confirms Eucentre’s dedication and commitment to developing innovative technological solutions for infrastructure safety and, more broadly, seismic engineering.
The ICAERUS PULL 2 Pitch Event took place online on February 3, 2025, officially launching the 12-month U-AInSPECT project. This initiative aims to develop a service based on drones and artificial intelligence (AI) for the inspection of bridge infrastructure, with a focus on its application and impact on rural area.

 

What is U-AInSPECT?

U-AInSPECT is a project aimed at improving and innovating infrastructure inspection and monitoring, particularly in rural areas where the low redundancy of the transport network makes bridge safety a crucial factor.

 

Project Objectives

The general goal of the project is to develop a service based on drones and artificial intelligence for bridge inspection, optimising damage assessment for routine inspections and natural disaster response. This will be achieved through:

  • Develop operational guidelines for inspecting and mapping bridge infrastructure, optimising data collection and ensuring survey repeatability, analyzing the operative implications with national and European UAS regulations.
  • Use of advanced artificial intelligence algorithms for semi-automated detection of different damage classes.
  • Implementation of a service value chain, starting with infrastructure inspection and concluding with a fast assessment of the bridge attention class, supporting effective priority planning for interventions.

Challenges and solutions proposed

Challenge 1: Ensuring safety and efficiency in rural bridge inspections
Traditional bridge inspection methods are often time-consuming, hazardous and may be inefficient in remote rural areas where accessibility is limited. As a result, some bridges may lack proper systematic inspections, increasing the risk of undetected damage. These issues become even more critical in post-disaster response scenarios, where timely interventions are essential.

Solution:
The U-AInSPECT system utilises drones and AI algorithms to ensure faster, and safer inspections. It reduces human risks, provides reliable results in challenging environments and supports proper priority planning for interventions.

Challenge 2: Strengthening rural connectivity to enhance economic and social resilience.
In rural areas, bridges are critical for local economies and daily mobility of persons and cargo; their limited redundancy makes them vulnerable to damage or disruptions.

Solution:
U-AInSPECT helps maintain bridges in good conditions through timely and accurate inspections, ensuring mobility for people and goods and promoting local economic development.

Challenge 3: Fostering consistent and reliable data collection.
Varying environmental conditions can affect the quality of the data collected during bridge inspections.

Solution:
U-AInSPECT provides operational guidelines for UAS-based data collection, ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and repeatability in inspection results.

Technology impact

The U-AInSPECT project involves the use of advanced technologies:

  • Low-cost commercial drones equipped with RGB cameras for collecting high-resolution images and videos.
  • AI advance deep learning and computer vision algorithms for semi-automated analysis of collected data.
  • Web-based GIS application that allows filling the assessment form for the fast evaluation of the bridge class of attention

Expected Outcomes

Comprehensive service value chain: U-AInSPECT will provide a service for bridge infrastructure inspection, improving connectivity and road safety in rural areas. By reducing the impact of traditional inspection methods, this service also helps lower emissions and fuel consumption, promoting more sustainable infrastructure management.
Knowledge transfer: Deliverables such as guidelines, datasets and market reports will promote knowledge sharing, offering stakeholders valuable insights to support the enhancement of rural infrastructure.
On site demonstration: Pilot use-case application, whether real and simulated, will demonstrate the capabilities of the developed service.
U-AInSPECT is funded under the ICAERUS project (grant agreement No. 101060643) through its Open Call PULL 2, supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme.

• For more information on ICAERUS: https://icaerus.eu
• U-AInSPECT Project

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