Video: In Europe, new highway tech and robots could soon fix roads and protect lives

Europe’s road network is its economic backbone. Mostly constructed after World War II, extensive maintenance is essential as it’s nearing its end of life. Increasing traffic volumes and more frequent road works result in traffic jams, delayed goods transport and risks for road workers. All this puts huge pressure on governments and road authorities.

Motorway authorities are under increasing pressure to find cost-effective technologies that minimize the time needed for road workers to be on site.

The research project OMICRON has developed what they call a “Modular Robotic Platform’ that can perform 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 been working roadside can use augmented reality and virtual reality technology to control the robotic platform from a safe distance.

“It’s definitely a new experience,” said roadworker Daniele Bulli, Road Operations Technician, Autostrade per L’Italia. “Maybe we can make the operator safe since we are no longer on the road.”

The project has also developed powerful digital tools to support decision making about priority problems, based on detailed data from inspection technologies. One approach is drone tech to safely scan road infrastructure such as bridges and tunnels to find problems such as cracks of just a few millimeters.

Drone surveys

Using Global Positioning System and other technologies to synchronize drones, inspections that once took hours or days can now be completed in a fraction of the time. This reduces traffic disruption as well as the risk to workers.

A Spanish partner in the project tested this technology to survey a bridge in Italy. “We needed three minutes to complete the mission,” said Álvaro Caballero of AICA, University of Seville. “In three minutes, we were able to say that ‘the bridge is fine.'”

Provided by
European Science Communication Institute gGmbH