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http://dx.doi.org/10.12652/Ksce.2015.35.2.0481

A Study on Control of Sealing Robot for Cracks of Concrete Surface  

Cho, Cheol-Joo (Korea Polytechnic University)
Lim, Kye-Young (Korea Polytechnic University)
Publication Information
KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research / v.35, no.2, 2015 , pp. 481-491 More about this Journal
Abstract
Since the crack in the surface of the concrete acts as the main reason influencing the life span of the structure, regular inspections and maintenance are required. The sealing required for maintenance of the concrete surface is a method of repairing the crack in the surface in the beginning, and is effective in preventing additional cracks and expansion that occurs with time. However, sealing on large sized structures such as tall buildings or bottom parts of bridges are difficult to ensure safety of the workers due to inadequate working environments. Due to this reason, the importance of the need for sealing automation for the maintenance of large sized concrete structures is emerging. This study proposes two control methods to apply robot systems to the sealing of cracks on the bottom parts of concrete bridges. First is the method of automatically tracking the trajectory of cracks. The robot gets the trajectory of the cracks using video information obtained from cameras. Comparing the previous several points and new point, the next point can be estimated. Thus, the trajectory of the crack can be tracked automatically. The other method is sealing by maintaining steady force to the contacting surface. The concrete surface exposed to an external environment for a long time gets an irregular roughness. If robots are able to carry out sealing while maintaining a steady contact force on these rough surfaces, complete equal sealing can be maintained. In order to maintain this equal force, a force control method using impedance is proposed. This paper introduces two developed control methods to apply to sealing robots, and conducts a Lab Test and Field Test after applying to a robot. Based on the test results, opinions on the possibilities of field application of the robot applied with the control methods are presented.
Keywords
Concrete surface; Crack sealing; Crack tracking; Impedance force control;
Citations & Related Records
Times Cited By KSCI : 2  (Citation Analysis)
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