New Era in Cultural Heritage Preservation: Cooperative Aerial Autonomy for Fast Digitalization of Difficult-to-Access Interiors of Historical Monuments

Abstract

Digital documentation of large interiors of historical buildings is an exhausting task since most of the areas of interest are beyond typical human reach. We advocate the use of autonomous teams of multi-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to speed up the documentation process by several orders of magnitude while allowing for a repeatable, accurate, and conditionindependent solution capable of precise collision-free operation at great heights. The proposed multi-robot approach allows for performing tasks requiring dynamic scene illumination in largescale real-world scenarios, a process previously applicable only in small-scale laboratory-like conditions. Extensive experimental analyses range from single-UAV imaging to specialized lighting techniques requiring accurate coordination of multiple UAV. The system's robustness is demonstrated in more than two hundred autonomous flights in fifteen historical monuments requiring superior safety while lacking access to external localization. This unique experimental campaign, cooperated with restorers and conservators, brought numerous lessons transferable to other safety-critical robotic missions in documentation and inspection tasks.

MRS Drone: A Modular Platform for Real-World Deployment of Aerial Multi-Robot Systems

“…Thus, they collect valuable data for monitoring the state of historic objects and restoration works planning. The main goal of the Dronument 15 project, whose results are summarized in [14,44,45,63,65,76,82], is the deployment of safety-critical platforms (see Fig. 25) as part of a UAV team for the documentation of historical buildings.…”

A Review on the Issues and Challenges of Heritage Preservation in the Industry Revolution 4.0

“…The Challenges of Heritage Preservation in the Industry Revolution 4.0 The Industry 4.0 era has brought about numerous challenges to heritage preservation. These include the use of technology in preservation, the impact of Industry 4.0 on the physical environment, the rise of digital culture, the cost of preservation efforts, and the lack of awareness and education (Petracek et. al., 2023;Mu'az et al, 2021;Alaloul et.…”

Affine Formation Maneuver Control for Multi-Agent Based on Optimal Flight System

“…Maneuver control can aid in formation search and guidance [7]. Additionally, researchers can inspect restricted areas such as documenting structural and cultural artifacts within historical buildings [8] or autonomously searching subterranean environments [9], which can gain situational awareness and assist specialized personnel in specific missions, such as assessing the structural integrity of collapsed buildings, tunnels, mines, exploration of a newly discovered branch in a cave network, and searching for lost persons. Formation configurations can be associated with different tasks and environments, such as collective animal behavior [10] in nature or reconnaissance and strike missions [11,12].…”