Contractor STRABAG has successfully tested an autonomous road surface in Austria. The test uses innovative technology and was tested in practice on the A9 motorway near Graz.
Robotic solutions and a modular pilot part of the pan-European research project InfraROB. The aim of the project is to provide automated technologies to improve the safety of workers and road users during road construction and maintenance. Autonomous robotic equipment is engaged in the construction of fences, road marking and repair of asphalt pavement.
The TPA STRABAG Competence Centre and its partners in the pan-European research project InfraROB are conducting practical tests of newly developed automation technologies during ongoing maintenance work on the A9 motorway. The innovative solutions are intended to help make road construction and maintenance work safer, more efficient and more cost-effective in the long term. Over the past three years, a total of 15 companies and research institutes from eight different countries have implemented five InfraROB sub-projects led by the University of Vigo in Spain.
A fully automated asphalt paver automatically laid asphalt on a 180-metre-long test section near Spielfeld. The implementation and logistics were coordinated by the STRABAG team from Graz. The road operator and InfraROB partner ASFINAG provided the test section. TPA and its three German partners in InfraROB Subproject 1 have thus achieved their main goal: The automated control system now developed is the missing element for fully automated asphalt paving and complements the previously developed work of MOBA AG, TU Cologne, “Innovative Measurement and Sensor Technology”; developed by the Technical University of Darmstadt and TPA as part of the research project German Robotics – Road Construction 4.0. As Sebastian Czaja, Head of the PSS (Process Stability in Road Construction) Department at TPA, points out, the automation of asphalt paving can improve occupational health and safety at road construction sites in the long term: “In the future, paving teams will increasingly perform monitoring. They will be able to work further away from moving traffic, reducing exposure to fumes and aerosols during the laying process.”
MOBA (Mobile Automation) AG has developed a special module for automatic machine control, which is connected directly to the digital CAN bus interface of the asphalt paver and provides the machine with target data for the paving area. Object recognition sensors and satellite navigation (GNSS) dynamically keep the asphalt paver on the right path during the paving process. The second innovation of subproject 1 InfraROB is a newly developed attachment for the asphalt paver, which enables the successful integration of sensor-equipped fiber optic cables (FOS cables) into the surface layer during the asphalt paving process. The installed temperature and motion sensors also provide information on the load on the asphalt surface during use. In the future, this data can be used to monitor road maintenance projects.
The innovative robotic technology of the InfraROB project could enable automation of work processes at road construction sites in the future, significantly reducing the risk of accidents for workers and road users. For example, mobile robotic safety cones are used to demarcate test sections: coordinated and networked by drones (RPAS), a group of autonomously moving towers (robot cones) are equipped with object recognition sensors to ensure a safe distance from moving vehicles (subproject 4). After the asphalt is laid at the end of October, small autonomous three-wheeled robots with spray paint will also mark the roads.
A similar mobile robot with a 3D-printed head has been developed as part of the InfraROB road maintenance sub-project: the robot will use its 3D-printed head to automatically repair potholes and cracks using cold mix asphalt. Meanwhile, modular prefabrication aims to improve the cost-effectiveness of road construction projects: InfraROB partners in Sub-project 3 have developed multifunctional barrier modules that effectively combine crash barriers, gutters, curbs and storm drains in a single, single-piece precast concrete component. The research project is also developing models for integrating InfraROB solutions into pavement maintenance systems (PMS) and traffic management systems (TMS) to improve operations and traffic safety (Sub-project 5).
Post time: Jan-10-2025