An Autonomous Robot Equipped with the GPS Virtual Reference Station (VRS) System to Perform Pavement Distress Surveys

Various pavement distresses (cracking, pothole, manhole, patching, etc.) that exist randomly across pavements deteriorate the quality of the pavement structure and need to be immediately dealt using proper maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) strategies. Traditionally pavement distress surveys are performed using manually operated or driven equipment, and hence are very labour-intensive, time-consuming and lack intelligent detection methods. In this study, an autonomous robot platform was pioneered to conduct pavement distress surveys. For accurate data collection and robot mobility on broad pavement, a positioning system with high accuracy and a short initialization time is needed. The main objective of this study is to integrate Leica's GPS VRS system with a P3-AT robot to conduct pavement distress surveys effectively. Pavement distresses can be located to the nearest centimeter. Through field tests, the feasibility of this architecture was examined.