Development of a New Dimension and Computer-Aided Construction System for Shotcreting Robot

This paper addresses the improvement of the semi-automated shotcreting robot. The arm of the robot has six degree of freedoms and is remotely controlled by the operator using a control box with six sticks and three buttons on the board. However, based on the results of utilization, the concurrent model has two major drawbacks for the job site practice: (1) the control board has too many joint sticks and buttons for the operator to control, (2) due to the poor visibility, the operator is hard to place the nozzle to the spraying position. According to the problems addressed, an improving plan is developed and classified in two stages: First, the control system of the semi-automated robot is improved by reducing the number of joint sticks from six to two. To reduce the development cost and risk, a real time computer simulation model is developed to identify the feasibility of the proposed model. In the second stage, the robot is improved from semi-automated to fully automated. An automated profile measuring instrument is used to measure the excavation surface. Based on the measurement, the simulation model calculates and identifies the path of nozzle for shotcreting. The automated shotcreting robot is achieved by integrating the graphical model with the robot control system.