Idea of Robotic bridge

Overview

·    Several industries, like automotive, electronics, and aerospace, heavily rely on robotics and automation because of their large manufacturing and standardized designs.

·             Workplace safety is an industry. According to the most recent data available, construction was the Important industrial with the largest amount of workplace deaths in the United States in 2015 (937), a startling 4% rise from the previous year. This made it one of the riskiest industries to work in.

·       Furthermore, the business suffers from a chronic lack of competent workers, with over 60% of contractors reporting difficulty finding appropriate personnel for their sites.This is a result of the employees’ less than 70% attendance being held back by infection concern.

·           The Railways building maintenance system has four level of primary functions: remote inspection, spray washing, paint removal, and painting.

·            In August 1994, the system’s original prototype was built and tested successfully as a robotic paint system or robotics bridge painting clean-up system.

·          The system’s primary goals were to eliminate the requirement for a human to be actively involved in the cleanup process and to control lead-based paint.

 

Fig:1 Robotic Bridge

 Bot-(Tybot)

One of the most important steps in building a bridge is tying rebar.

• Back troubles and other health concerns may arise from this tiresome chore.

• “Tybot,” is a robot that can used to tie rebar.

• Tybot’s robotic arm can automatically recognize intersections to tie rebar, and it can stretch up     

to 140 feet above a bridge’s width.

Robot of Spencer Gibb

• First fully autonomous robot bridge inspector.

• Previously, surveying a bridge required digging into the road to inspect the concrete and steel     

    structures beneath.

•  Human inspections are prone to error.

• The four-wheeled, waterproof, battery-powered gadget uses ground-penetrating radar and  

   electrical resistivity sensors to find any rusted steel sections or decaying concrete within the       

   bridge.

Working principle

After obtaining the required beam from its original location, the SLJ900/32 will drive to the bridge’s pillars and lower a pneumatic support structure, which essentially secures the machine to the first pillar and allows it to extend itself out to the second.

It then proceeds to a third, depositing the beam along the way. Perhaps the simplest way to completely comprehend how smoothly, efficiently, and fuss-free it operates is to watch it in action.

With its 64 wheels, divided into four parts of 16 wheels each, the machine is able to move itself. Because each part can rotate ninety degrees, the SLJ900/32 can move sideways to make picking up beams easier.

System of cable inspection

Long-span cable-supported bridges in particular need a high level of maintenance along with dependable and effective inspection techniques.

            Emerging robotics technologies can be leveraged to overcome limitations of existing cable inspection methods.

The cable system difficult to reach with the methods used for current inspection, robots’ technologies are typically paired with strong non-destructive testing (NDT) approaches.

 The climbing robot subsystem allows it to move on bridge cable. The robot may be remotely operated by inspectors, and it can communicate sensor data to the control and analysis subsystem that is obtained from the sensing modules.

            The NDT subsystem consists of two sensing modules: the magnetic sensing module, which employs MFL devices to locate inner wire defects.

Fig :2 Cable inspection

 Tackling Developmental Concerns

        This project involves multiple design and production operations. The biggest and most challenging task is designing a prototype for an automated grit-blasting system. This development comprises integrating the robotic autonomous system's utilitarian elements, such detecting, creating maps, organizing, and so on as well as the incorporation of the system with grit-blasting equipment. Even so, there is While there is still much to be done, significant progress has been made. The interface and a commercial robot is supported by rails and positioned on a platform to allow it to move across The structure of the bridge.

Flowchart of Painting and Planning of Robotic Bridge

Efficient Methods for Collision Avoidance

            Collision avoidance and identification during grit-blasting and mapping is an important yet challenging topic that must be handled. The robot has just a little understanding of the geometry of the preservation environment when it first enters the space. Because of this, sensor package exploration requires the ability to detect robot body impacts with the environment. A capacitive sensor for collision detection has already been designed, and a sensor network is now being installed around the robot's arm to forecast crashes. During grit-blasting and mapping, avoiding collisions and identifying objects is a crucial yet difficult problem to address.

Tools Maintenance

            To finish the maintenance procedure, the robot operates the current instruments. It is widely classified into three types: paint, sandblast, and high-pressure spray. The current instruments in use. The motions the robot needs to perform for every one of lot of tools are very much the same. Travel distance and speed from the surface are necessary for sandblasting and spray cleaning but not for painting. The an essential procedure that establishes the necessary degree of arm movement precision is painting. There are tolerances for every paint layer, from primer to top coat. Spraying air pressure, nozzle speed over surface, and nozzle to surface separation control these. The first two conditions are managed by programming, and an air pressure regulator on the vehicle that is good in conditions.

 

Author Bios:

Mr.S.Southamirajan , AP/Civil

Dr. N. Sridhar, AP/Civil

Poorani R

Balaji V