Method for Motion Route Planning of a Ground Robotic System for Substation Equipment Condition Monitoring and Technical Diagnostics

Abstract

This paper presents a method for planning and verifying motion routes of ground robotic systems intended for automated diagnostics of high-voltage substation equipment. The relevance of the study is driven by the need to improve maintenance safety and efficiency under the conditions of severe aging of power infrastructure and increasing requirements for predictive monitoring. The proposed routing system is integrated into a 3D substation model and relies on a combination of geometric, algorithmic, and kinematic methods to generate an optimal trajectory with guaranteed coverage of diagnostic targets. The algorithm comprises sequential stages of site segmentation, discretization of the navigable space, filtering of candidate deployment (base) points according to operational constraints, visibility analysis based on ray tracing and oriented bounding volumes, and optimization of the inspection sequence considering the platformkinematic characteristics. Motion control is implemented using a combination of PID regulation providing stable path following under limited maneuverability and complex spatial layouts typical for substations. The method’s performance is validated through simulation in Unity using a 3D model of a 220 kV substation. The conducted experiments demonstrate full coverage of target objects and stable motion along the planned route. The results confirm the applicability of the proposed solution to automated diagnostics in power facilities and its potential for integration into digital twins of substations.