Credit: European Institute for Science Communication gGmbH
Europe’s road network constitutes the backbone of its economy. Built mostly after World War II, thorough maintenance is essential as it nears the end of its life. Increased traffic and frequency of road works lead to traffic jams, delays in the transportation of goods and risks for road workers. All of this puts enormous pressure on governments and road authorities.
Road authorities are under increasing pressure to find cost-effective technologies that minimize the time it takes for road workers to get to site.
The OMICRON research project has developed what they call a “modular robotic platform” capable of performing several road maintenance tasks. For example, a robotic platform can install safety barriers, signals, collect traffic cones, seal some road cracks and remove road paint using lasers.
In the future, workers who might have worked roadside will be able to use augmented reality and virtual reality technology to control the robotic platform from a safe distance.
“It’s definitely a new experience,” said Daniele Bulli, road operations technician at Autostrade per L’Italia. “Maybe we can secure the operator since we’re no longer on the road.”
The project also developed powerful digital tools to support decision-making on priority issues, based on detailed data from inspection technologies. One approach is to use drone technology to safely scan road infrastructure such as bridges and tunnels for problems such as cracks as small as a few millimeters.
Drone surveys
Using the global positioning system and other technologies to synchronize drones, inspections that once took hours or even days can now be completed in a fraction of the time. This reduces traffic disruptions as well as risks to workers.
A Spanish partner in the project tested this technology to study a bridge in Italy. “It took us three minutes to complete the mission,” said Álvaro Caballero from AICA, University of Seville. “In three minutes we were able to say that ‘the bridge is fine’.”
Provided by the European Institute for Science Communication gGmbH
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