INSPIRE - University Transportation Center

Inspecting and Preserving Infrastructure through Robotic Exploration (INSPIRE)

Center Mission

Providing leadership in research, education, workforce development and technology transfer aimed at infrastructure inspection and preservation solutions with advanced technologies for a sustainable and resilient transportation system.

Bold Vision

In the next 30 years, our highway and railway system will face challenges ranging from aging infrastructure and increasing congestion to declining revenues due to reduced fuel tax and increasing service interruption. Cheaper, faster, and safer inspection and preservation tools are needed to maintain our nation’s ground transportation system in a state of good repair.

Interdisciplinary Research

Faculty from civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering, engineering management and computer science are collaborating to explore, develop, validate, and demonstrate remotely-controlled robotic platforms for the inspection and preservation of bridges and tunnels and a robot-enabled resilience analysis and intervention framework for post-disaster assessment and recovery of the structures.

Innovative Workforce Training

A simulation-based training and control system will be designed and validated to develop the next-generation transportation workforce. Video games will be developed to attract more students and the public to robotic inspection. A robotic simulator will be designed for professional training.


Missouri University of Science and Technology	City College of New York	Georgia Institute of Technology	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	University of Nevada, Reno

Minor Consortium Members