Inspection methods, also known as non-destructive evaluation (NDE), is a process for inspecting materials, products, and facilities to identify flaws, imperfections, and malfunctions without destruction or changing the integrity of materials, structures, and mechanisms. However, detecting those defects requires test conducting and results inferring, which is highly demanding in terms of analysis, performance, and time. New technologies are therefore needed to increase the efficiency, probability of detection, and interpretability of NDE methods to establish smart inspection. In this context, Artificial intelligence (AI), as a fundamental component of the Industry 4.0, is a well-suited tool to address downsides associated with the current NDE methods for analysis and interpretation of inspection results, where methods integrating AI into their inspection process become automated and are known as smart inspection methods. This article sheds a light on the conventional methods and the smart techniques used in defects detection. Subsequently, a comparison between the two notions is presented. Furthermore, it investigates opportunities for the integration of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods and Industry 4.0 technologies. In addition, the challenges hindering the progress of the domain are mentioned as the potential solutions. To this end, along with Industry 4.0 technologies, a virtual inspection system has been proposed to deploy smart inspection.
Keywords: Industry 4.0; artificial intelligence (AI); machine learning (ML); non-destructive evaluation (NDE); smart inspection.