A Robotic Vision System Using a Modified Hough Transform to Perform Weld Line Detection on Storage Tanks

The paper presents a computer vision system based on texture segmentation and on a variation of the standard Hough transform, in which the choice of the parameters that determine the straight line that better represents the image is based on the contour conditions of the particular case of weld line detection on fuel storage tanks, aiming to allow their correct detection by the computer vision system even in the absence of the reinforcement structure, usually found in those cases. The proposed vision system provides the necessary information to keep a set of ultrasonic sensors, used to inspect the weld line, in the necessary position in order to improve the inspection reliability.