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June 26, 2012 By News Staff
Researchers from the Georgia Tech Research Institute developed a road repair system that aims to extend the lifespan of roadways by filling cracks as they appear. If feasible, the system could replace large road crews and perform the same repairs faster, cheaper and safer.
Driven by a single truck driver, the system’s stereoscopic camera takes two photos of the road and builds a “crack map” within 100 milliseconds. Driving at three mph the system then controls 12 nozzles that spray sealant into cracks that can be smaller than an eighth of an inch. Tests showed the system identified 83 percent of road cracks.
Researchers plan to improve the system by refining the crack detection feature so the system is not fooled by oil stains, lane stripes, raised pavement markers and other objects. Researchers also plan to build a full-scale prototype that will be used on a 13-foot-wide stretch of road and maybe incorporate a 3-D laser scanner.
Read more about the road repair system in the write-up by the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/transportation/Georgia-Tech-Robot-Repairs-Road-Ruptures.html
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All sounds good, but the part about replacing road crews sounds suspect. Obviously, that could save taxpayer money, but at the same time, what if that means loss of jobs? If that is the case, have we really 'won' with this technology? There would be unemployment benefit outlay. I've wondered the same about if all of a sudden cars on the road were getting 100 MPG, what would happen to those folks dependent on being employed in the petroleum industry. Sure, the majority of folks' gas expenses dramatically decrease, but at what cost to the economy? Just sayin'
Hey wait...Fred Up! Rather than having small bands of road crews that can't cover large areas you could move those individuals into driving fleets of crack detect & fix vehicles. So this wouldn't be a loss of jobs but rather a shift in the work done. This might allow them to do more work at a lower cost, more effeciently and as a result get more done with the same resources. Sounds like a win-win to me.
Anything that extends the service life of road surfaces using less money enables that technology to be used on more road surfaces without increasing the budget. That is a good thing. Won't fly in my state, though. The Road Builders association owns our state DOT and state legislature. Anthing that cuts into their profit of selling pavement to the government won't fly.