BOA II and PipeTaz: robotic pipe-asbestos insulation abatement systems

Three generations of past, current and future robotic and automated asbestos pipe-insulation abatement robot systems are described in this paper, including experimental results and their current disposition within the government and commercial market sectors. An on-pipe automated abatement system, dubbed BOA, for the medium and large pipe-bore sizes, has gone through 2 generations. The current system is designed to operate autonomously on pipe-networks with 4-inch diameter pipes, and will see field trials at K-25 in Oak Ridge and Fernald by the spring of 1997. A follow-on system, dubbed PipeTaz, has been proposed to abate small-bore pipe after the piping is cut out of the network. In this paper we detail the first two robot generations, and outline the proposed follow-on PipeTaz system