Abstract: A modular robot (11) has an elongated body portion (14) including at least one interchangeable module (29) having an elongated profile containing circuitry configured to implement a predetermined functionality of the robot. At least one motherboard (37) is disposed at at least one end of the robot and is configured to connect to the module circuitry.

Abstract: A hybrid sensor head (12) for inspecting a surface includes a casing (28) supporting at least one pair of pulse transceivers emitting respective pulses through a medium at different propagation speeds toward the surface and for receiving therefrom respective reflected pulses. The transceivers (50, 57) in each pair are configured to emit respective pulses to a common location of the surface and are mutually displaced such that a respective round-trip propagation distance for each pair of pulses differs by a known amount. At least two measurements are obtained from each pair of sensors at different times allowing computation of range and velocity for each transceiver.

Abstract: A modular robot (11) has an elongated body portion (14) including at least one interchangeable module (29) having an elongated profile containing circuitry configured to implement a predetermined functionality of the robot. At least one motherboard (37) is disposed at at least one end of the robot and is configured to connect to the module circuitry.

Abstract: A hybrid sensor head (12) for inspecting a surface includes a casing (28) supporting at least one pair of pulse transceivers emitting respective pulses through a medium at different propagation speeds toward the surface and for receiving therefrom respective reflected pulses. The transceivers (50, 57) in each pair are configured to emit respective pulses to a common location of the surface and are mutually displaced such that a respective round-trip propagation distance for each pair of pulses differs by a known amount. At least two measurements are obtained from each pair of sensors at different times allowing computation of range and velocity for each transceiver.

Abstract: Material properties between a wellbore and a casing having a partition separating respective domains inside and outside the casing are evaluated by disposing at least one ultrasonic transmitter and a plurality of ultrasonic receivers in longitudinally spaced-apart relationship alongside the partition inside the casing. The ultrasonic transmitter is activated to form ultrasonic waveforms comprising propagated quasi leaky-Lamb waves constituting flexural waves having symmetric and antisymmetric zero-order modes within the partition. A time-shift is applied to the received flexural waves so that the respective time-shifted waveforms corresponding to each of the flexural waves arrive at the same time.

Abstract: Methods are disclosed for evaluating a material on a remote side of a partition separating first and second domains wherein flexural waves within the partition are received by spaced-apart ultrasonic receivers and processed to determine the velocity of the waves propagating into the second domain from a first receiver to a second receiver located more remote from the transmitter than the first receiver and whose separation from the first receiver is known. Comparison of a theoretical phase velocity with the measured phase velocity of the recorded waves allows determination as to whether the flexural wave is propagating through solid. This may be based on a measurable deviation between the two curves occurring at a critical frequency, which may be identified by a perturbation in a group velocity plot. Discrimination may also be based on the gradient of a straight line that best-fits the attention dispersion of the frequency spectrum.

Abstract: Material on a remote side of a partition separating first and second domains is evaluated by disposing at least one ultrasonic transmitter and a plurality of spaced ultrasonic receivers along a first side of the partition in the first domain. The transmitter is activated to form ultrasonic waveforms that comprise propagated quasi leaky-Lamb waves constituting extensional waves having symmetrical zero-order modes within the partition. The received ultrasonic waveforms are processed to determine the envelope of the waves propagating through the partition from a first receiver to a second receiver that is located more remote from the transmitter than the first receiver and whose separation from the first receiver is known. The integral envelope attenuation per distance of the wave propagating through the second domain over a predefined interval establishes that the second domain contains a solid when higher than a predetermined threshold.