To read this content please select one of the options below:

Development of cable maintenance robot for cable‐stayed bridges

Jun Luo (College of Mechatronics Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China)
Shaorong Xie (College of Mechatronics Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China)
Zhenbang Gong (College of Mechatronics Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China)
Tiansheng Lu (College of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China)

Industrial Robot

ISSN: 0143-991x

Article publication date: 26 June 2007

1040

Abstract

Purpose

In order to replace the conventional human maintenance of cable‐stayed bridges, a robot is designed and constructed for tasks such as cleaning, painting and rust‐detecting.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a modular approach, two kinds of climbing mechanisms, plus a painting mechanism and a rust‐detecting method are designed.

Findings

A robot that can climb and maintain the cables of cable‐stayed bridges has been designed and constructed. It has been proved by experiment that the robot can overcome many disadvantages of conventional human bridge‐maintenance, and drastically improve efficiency, cost, and safety.

Research limitations/implications

The robot is of industrial size, but a new mechanism requiring less installing time will be designed for the future.

Practical implications

The robot has been applied to cables of the Nanpu Bridge and Xupu Bridge in Shanghai. More than 80 cable‐stayed bridges and six suspension bridges have been built or are being constructed across large rivers in China alone. This gives an enormous potential market.

Originality/value

The cable maintenance robot developed in this paper is the world's first special robot for the cables of cable‐stayed bridges.

Keywords

Citation

Luo, J., Xie, S., Gong, Z. and Lu, T. (2007), "Development of cable maintenance robot for cable‐stayed bridges", Industrial Robot, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 303-309. https://doi.org/10.1108/01439910710749627

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles