Robotic Utility Excavation System with GPR Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Utility excavations are labor-intensive, disruptive, and prone to errors due to inaccurate mapping and integration of underground utilities, leading to damage and increased costs, with a significant carbon footprint.
Innovation Solution
A robotic utility excavation system within a vehicle, equipped with a robotic arm, sensors, and tools for precise excavation and repair, using ground-penetrating radar and machine vision for site mapping and automated operation to minimize damage and reduce site footprint.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple large vehicles and heavy equipment are deployed for utility excavation, then excavation work can be performed, but the physical footprint and carbon footprint increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the excavation system into multiple independent robotic units that can work in parallel. Each robotic excavator is a self-contained module with its own excavation arm, sensors, and control systems, allowing the overall excavation task to be performed by several smaller units rather than one large equipment assembly, thereby reducing the physical footprint while maintaining productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional heavy mechanical excavation equipment with robotic systems that use automated control, sensors, and programmable motion. This substitution allows for more precise, controlled excavation with smaller equipment, reducing both the physical space required and the associated carbon footprint while maintaining or improving excavation capability
2Ease of operation
If traditional mark-out crews use spray paint and maps to locate utilities, then utility locations can be marked, but accuracy is limited by outdated or incomplete mapping data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs utility location identification before the actual excavation begins. Robotic units equipped with sensors (such as ground-penetrating radar, electromagnetic detectors, and LIDAR) scan and map underground utilities in advance, creating an accurate digital model of subsurface infrastructure. This preliminary detection ensures precise utility locations are known before excavation starts, eliminating the inaccuracy of relying on outdated paper maps
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mark-out procedures using spray paint and paper maps with automated robotic detection systems. These robotic units use advanced sensors and imaging technologies to automatically identify, locate, and map underground utilities with high precision, then communicate this data to excavation operators, eliminating human error and outdated information from the process
3Productivity
If large crews with multiple roles are engaged for excavation, then comprehensive excavation tasks can be performed, but labor intensity and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions (excavation, utility detection, marking, and data collection) into integrated robotic units. Each robotic system performs multiple tasks that traditionally required separate crews, eliminating the need for coordinated teams of utility locators, mark-out workers, excavators, and surveyors, thereby reducing operational complexity while maintaining comprehensive task completion
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic excavation units are equipped with autonomous capabilities including self-navigation, self-detection of utilities, self-marking of locations, and self-monitoring of excavation progress. This self-service capability reduces the need for multiple specialized human operators and coordination overhead, allowing a single robotic system to perform tasks that previously required entire crews
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The robotic system enables precise and efficient excavation, reduces labor and equipment needs, minimizes damage to buried utilities, and decreases the carbon footprint while providing accurate data for future maintenance.
Implementation Method 1
uses ground-penetrating radar, cameras, and machine vision to accurately locate and excavate utilities
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for utility maintenance may include a robotic system having an articulating arm capable of utilizing a variety of tools and sensors for locating and accessing underground structures. The robotic system may be contained within a truck or other vehicle that provides access to the ground through the floor of the vehicle or truck bed. A curtain may be extended from a bottom of the vehicle to the ground to enclose a work site and inhibit visual and physical access to it.