Shield-Segment Erection Robot

This paper discusses a robot capable of handling segments which are, in dimensions, of the greatest class in the world. The robot has been developed as part of a series of innovations for automatization and robotization of the shield method now used most frequently in tunnel construction. The robot erects, in the form of ring, segments weighing 4.3tons a piece. Each ring erected is huge, 12.5m in outer diameter and 1.1m wide. The robot goes forward 1.1m every time it finishes erection of a ring. With the advancement, the position of the robot in relation to the erected segment changes. In this condition, the robot detects the position and inclination of the erected segments in order to install correctly the succeeding ring. This process was a bottleneck in full robotization of the steps to be performed in the shield-driven tunneling, as it was difficult to mount automatically heavy and large segments. The robot presented here has solved this problem and is now executing the extension of Tohoku Shinkansen line.