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Augmented Reality Bridge Rapid Assessment Goals

Our ultimate goal is creating a new approach to researching asphalt concrete by developing new bridge-deck monitoring technologies using machine learning, integrated sensors and smartphone-based augmented reality (AR). Specifically, we will:

  • Monitor pavement, bridge deck, and substructures in Chicago and central Illinois
  • Create a machine learning framework to correlate open-world accelerometer measurements to asphalt elasticity, pavement surface condition, and internal damage
  • Develop a mobile phone app to allow engineers to assess pavement health using their smartphone cameras and an AR data visualization app

Augmented Reality Bridge Rapid Assessment

Team

Ann Sychterz

Ann Sychterz

asychter@illinois.edu

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Ramez Hajj

Ramez Hajj

rhajj@illinois.edu

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Lesley Sneed

Lesley Sneed

lhsneed@uic.edu

University of Illinois at Chicago: Professor, Civil, Materials and Environmental Engineering

Eric Gene Shaffer

Eric Gene Shaffer

shaffer1@illinois.edu

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Associate Professor, Computer Science

Deployable Tensegrity Footbridge in Virtual Reality

PI Ann Sychterz, head of the Sychterz Modular Adaptive Resilient Transformable Infrastructure (SMARTI) Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is well-versed in bringing structural engineering to life using augmented reality. She built a deployable footbridge in virtual reality to provide users the immersive experience of the feel and behavior of a tensegrity structure pedestrian bridge. The topology from the 1/4 scale “hollow rope” pentagonal tensegrity structure will be used to show engineers capabilities of large-scale real-life tensegrity structures.