News

Zivil Survey & Design Co., Ltd. handles design and inspection work related to the maintenance and preservation of social infrastructure such as roads and bridges. With many of their job sites on rough terrain, the company introduced CuGo V4 to further upgrade their in-house inspection equipment. We spoke with them in detail about the background behind the adoption and how it is being used on actual job sites.

For information on the crawler robot development platform "CuGo V4":

https://cuborex.com/en/product/?id=9

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Interviewees

Shigeyoshi Minamide, General Manager, Planning & Development Division
Yoshikazu Yokota, Deputy Manager / Development, Design & Marketing, Planning & Development Division
(Honorifics omitted within the interview)

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Please tell us about your company's business and services.

Minamide: We are a construction consulting firm primarily engaged in inspection, survey, and design of public structures — roads, bridges, tunnels, and other built infrastructure.

In recent years, the deterioration of public structures has been advancing rapidly, and as part of countermeasures, demand for inspection and survey work has grown enormously. Our company has been developing various technologies for inspection surveys for about 10 years.

https://www.zivil.co.jp/

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Please tell us more about the bridge inspection robot for which you adopted our product.

Minamide: After inspecting a deteriorated bridge, repairs are needed to fix it. Normally we photograph the affected areas and assess the situation from that data — but when a site is narrow, it can be very difficult for a person to get in and take photos, which creates the problem of not being able to accurately grasp the conditions.

So this time, using CuboRex's CuGo V4 — capable of operating on rough terrain — we developed a model of our multi-camera system "MCS" that can handle more challenging rough terrain and confined spaces.

It is a robot that operates by remote control in sites where it is difficult for humans to work, such as under bridge girders and narrow waterways. Using images captured by multiple cameras, it creates 3D models and produces data that enables accurate and detailed assessment of damage conditions from various angles.

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What challenges or triggers led to adopting the product?

Minamide: The inspection site under bridge girders presented considerable difficulties — people had to crawl into an extremely confined space to carry out the work.

Before adopting the solution, inspection in tight spaces meant workers had to crawl in on their hands and knees. In spaces around 60–70 cm high, just getting inside was all one could manage — there were many sites where actual inspection work was simply impossible. You wanted to look upward, but couldn't; you ended up just army-crawling forward with nothing else you could do.

So we were conducting inspections using a mechanics' trolley — lying on it face-up and rolling into the site. It was an extremely poor working environment, and we recognized the need to rethink our approach, but we had yet to work out specifically what to use or how.

It was during a trade show in the summer of 2022 — which we happened to be attending to gather information — that passing by a booth gave us our first encounter with CuGo.

We had no prior knowledge of crawler units at all; it was truly a chance sighting. We thought: "this looks great, we could use it right away." At the time, V4 hadn't yet been released, and what was on display was V3 — but afterward we visited the CuboRex office, were introduced to V4, and decided to adopt it immediately.

The speed from that point onward was truly impressive. We saw the product in July, purchased it, and by October the inspection robot was complete. And within the same fiscal year we were already using it on the job — the speed from development to real-world deployment was a genuine lifesaver.

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Did you consider other companies' drivetrains?

Minamide: We had done some research on wheeled drivetrains and others to a certain extent, but hadn't gotten to the point of seriously considering a specific adoption. After all, seeing the real thing is what makes it click — it's the most convincing approach of all. So there was no side-by-side comparison with competing products. The moment we spotted CuGo at the trade show, we knew it was the one.

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Why did you choose V4 over the less expensive V3?

Yokota: From a design standpoint, the first consideration was that we didn't want to significantly change the overall size of the MCS unit being mounted on top of CuGo.

V3 was a little on the small side for our needs. And since we'd be using it around water, we felt that V4 — with its improved specifications for water resistance and reaction force — was better suited for product development, and superior even considering the cost difference.

V3 has faster travel speed, but for our inspections, accuracy matters more than speed — so we prioritized torque over velocity.

Minamide: From a practical field perspective, the compact form factor was a major factor in being very well suited to the inspection sites we had in mind. The crawler drive system — able to overcome dirt, sand, and uneven ground — was also very appealing. And we had high expectations for its durability as well.

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What benefits did adopting V4 bring, and were there things you felt other products couldn't do?

Yokota: The versatility, really. With a crawler drive as the base, we build the main body from MISUMI aluminum frames — meaning any device can be attached instantly by simply jointing the frame. That ease of attachment is the greatest advantage from a design standpoint. We currently have the MCS unit on it, but because combinations are so easy, expanding to other products is very straightforward. It even makes trying something out with a different device a real possibility. I think that's a tremendous strength.

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Were there any drawbacks that emerged after adoption, or improvements you hope to see going forward?

Yokota: Going forward I imagine development will continue toward more variations and larger models, but since inspection work often takes place near water — in waterways and similar environments — further improvement in water resistance would be very welcome. On site we frequently find ourselves worrying, "we can't let this get wet." If there were a version with fully waterproofed, amphibious-style water protection, the field team would be enormously grateful.

That said, we are currently using it in the field without issues. There was one incident where a chain came off while driving inside a round culvert pipe, but on outdoor terrain — snowy hills and muddy ground — it has been running smoothly so far. In that sense we are broadly satisfied.

Looking ahead, improvements we're hoping for include better water resistance, and the ability to handle round, sloped interiors like culvert pipes — perhaps through some modification to the unit's shape — which would extend the range of inspections we can cover. It would also be helpful to have a battery level indicator, since there's currently no remaining charge display.

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What benefits or problem-solving effects have you noticed from automating inspection work?

Minamide: The biggest gains are the improvements in work efficiency and safety I mentioned earlier. Inspection work that previously required a two-person team can now be handled by a single person through automation.

The quality of the data produced has also improved. The higher imaging accuracy has created significant benefits for secondary use of the data as well.

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By automating inspection technology, what kind of future do you envision for the infrastructure and construction consulting industry?

Minamide: The construction industry has always been built on the premise that humans perform the hands-on site work — but with a declining workforce and growing shortage of skilled workers, we want to push forward with DX and supplement our capabilities with a wide range of new technologies. Personally, I want to accurately capture the needs of the field from a technical perspective and channel that into development. I hope the MCS using CuGo becomes one example of what that can look like.

Yokota: My background was originally in mechanical engineering, and I'm now in my fourth year at Zivil Survey & Design. The civil engineering sector lags a bit in the DX space, and it can also be conservative — there are cases where new technologies and equipment get rejected outright.

But when you think about how to improve efficiency, you inevitably conclude that you have to keep challenging yourselves with new approaches.

The idea is first to search for the best concept you can envision — beyond the immediate question of whether it works or not — and then develop something using products like CuGo and offerings from various other companies that can benefit the industry as a whole. I want to keep working with high ideals as an engineer.

Actually, 3D CAD is still not widely used in the construction industry. So when CuboRex sent us V4 data and it came as a 3D file, I was honestly moved (laughs). Design work went so smoothly after that — that high affinity with engineering tools may well have been one more factor in our decision to adopt it.

Our product is also a device that lets customers see in 3D the conditions of sites where it is difficult for humans to enter and inspect visually — helping them understand the situation faster and more clearly.

CuGo is about reducing the burden at sites that are too difficult for humans to enter, and improving both work efficiency and precision. It's exactly the same concept as our MCS.

With CuGo, our MCS can now inspect even narrower sites — places that are truly hard for humans to enter — far more accurately. What started as a completely chance encounter at a trade show has turned out to be a case that worked out extremely well.

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Thank you so much, Minamide-san and Yokota-san!
We feel exactly the same way.
CuboRex will continue to contribute to Zivil Survey & Design's drive for technological innovation.

For product information on the CuGo V4 adopted in this case:

https://cuborex.com/en/product/?id=9

Purchase CuGo V4 in our online store:

https://cuborex.myshopify.com/en/products/cugo-v4-platform

For other product inquiries:

https://cuborex.com/en/contact/