The US state of Minnesota is using drones to monitor the infrastructure of some of its 20,000 bridges. Unmanned aerial vehicles can inspect hard-to-reach cracks, hover close to ageing bearings and scan entire bridge lengths for considerably less cost than traditional methods. But while this technology has been used in other countries, it was only recently that a drone became available on American soil. Minnesota launched a $2.5bn scheme to overhaul hundreds of bridges in 2008, a year after part of I-35 collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people and injuring a further 145.
The US state of Minnesota is using drones to monitor the infrastructure of some of its 20,000 bridges. Unmanned aerial vehicles can inspect hard-to-reach cracks, hover close to ageing bearings and scan entire bridge lengths for considerably less cost than traditional methods. High-resolution images can then be stitched together into three-dimensional models, which engineers can examine on computers. Minnesota launched a $2.5bn scheme to overhaul hundreds of bridges in 2008, a year after part of I-35 collapsed into the Mississippi River, killing 13 people and injuring a further 145.