2024-03-26 13:56:02
Potholes are annoying to say the least; fixing them is expensive and time-consuming. It would be practical if they didn’t appear in the first place. A robotic system is being developed in the UK to detect and repair road damage before it becomes potholes.
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Autonomous Road Repair System is the name of the robot that has been developed by the University of Liverpool since 2020 dem Start-up Robotiz3d is developed. The system consists of three components, one of which is being tested in the English county of Hertfordshire.
Arres Prevent is a somewhat bulky, electrically powered robot vehicle that repairs road damage. It drives along a road autonomously or remotely and looks for cracks in the asphalt. It fills this with tar so that no water can penetrate, which can turn a crack into a pothole.
Arres Prevent fills cracks
Hertfordshire County Council tested the system on public roads in the small town of Potters Bar. The test was a step towards solving the problem with potholes, it said.
“After another wet winter, we know the number of potholes will increase”, said Reena Ranger from Hertfordshire County Council. “That’s why we’ve been working hard to repair over 40,000 potholes this year by testing new techniques. With this novel technology, we could potentially prevent potholes from forming in the first place.”
In further tests, the prototype will be improved so that it is ready for series production. A version the size of a small truck is also planned. Ares Ultra Like Arres Prevent, it will be an electric vehicle. It should not only be able to repair cracks, but also larger damage.
Finally, the Arres program also includes a third system: Arres Eye is intended to detect, map and classify road damage. The system, which has been on the market since last year, is installed on vehicles that travel a lot, such as buses or garbage trucks.
Arres Eye scans the road surface for damage and transfers the coordinates to a database. The system also records what type of damage is involved – crack or pothole – and assesses how urgently the problem needs to be addressed.
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