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CS Interdisciplinary Seminar: Computer Vision and Robotic Methods for Building and Bridge Inspection Wednesday, March 19, 2014 11:00am ENGR 4201 David Lattanzi Abstract Bridges represent a critical component of infrastructure systems, and therefore condition monitoring via periodic inspection has long been a key part of bridge operations and maintenance practice. There are more than 578,000 bridges in the US alone, most of which must be inspected every two years, and so hundreds of millions of dollars per year are spent on the inspection of trillions of dollars in assets. In current practice, images captured during an inspection are not considered quantitative sources of information and are therefore underutilized. This seminar will present a fundamental rethink of how we capture and handle inspection images, which has resulted in the utilization of computer vision to connect visually observable structural damage to changes in the underlying mechanical performance of structures. Included will be a discussion of the challenges of structural image segmentation and feature extraction, as well as current efforts to represent images as dynamic sources of information. Speaker's Bio David Lattanzi, Ph.D., P.E. is an Assistant Professor in the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering. Dr. Lattanzi studies how to develop new methods of structural inspection through the use of artificial intelligence, computer vision, and robotics. A registered professional engineer, he has participated in post-disaster inspection and assessment work both domestically and abroad. He received his doctorate in structural engineering, as well as a concurrent M.S. in mechanical engineering, from the University of Washington, where he developed robotic bridge inspection techniques.