Manipulator system for the redevelopment of gaps in bricks sewers

Currently only small sewers with symmetrical shape can be renewed automatically. Large brick sewers, as found in nearly every big town, are repaired manually. Therefore the company HOCTIEF and the Fraunhofergesellschaft have developed a remote controlled manipulator system. This machine is a hydraulic driven robot with 5 d.o.f for the automatic cutting and filling of brick sewers. Three CCD-cameras inform the operator about the redevelopment process. Two cameras are integrated in the wrist axes and look onto the tool. A third camera is mounted on the vehicle and gives the operator an overview about the working area. The operator defines via the TV-image the edge points of the brick sewers which has to be redeveloped. This teaching process is mostly computer-aided. The task of the operator is reduced to the monitoring of the robot movement and the correction of the computed robot path with a joystick. At first the gaps are cut free by a finger milling cutter. In the next generation mortar is pressed into the gap and smoothed. The robot can be taken into pieces and therefore it can be transported through drains with a diameter of 610 mm. The actual version was designed for oval sewers with a height of 1400 mm and a width of 850 mm. For movement within the sewer the robot is mounted on a walking mechanism. In a container outside of the sewer control instruments and monitors inform the operator about the state of the machine and the state of the workprocess.<>