Suppressing Utility Problems - Protection via Robotic Engineering to the Sub-Surface

Relocating overhead utilities to the subsurface can effectively reduce safety hazards on national highways and other aboveground living spaces. A typical underground space is, however, congested with buried utilities especially in an urban environment. The recordings of those underground utilities are, furthermore, often inaccurate, incomplete, out of date, or even entirely missing as a result of insufficient surveying methodologies and inadequate as-built recording practices. Consequently, the utility construction industry is plagued by aggravating accidents caused by mechanical damages to buried utilities during horizontal directional drilling (HDD) and other construction related activities. In order to address these technical challenges, we have been developing the Robotic Utility Mapping and Installation System (RUMI), a comprehensive robotic solution that improves the safety and productivity of the underground utility construction. The overarching objective of the Phase II effort is to develop RUMI-2, the second robot prototype that realizes the innovative technologies conceptualized in Phase I, and demonstrate its capabilities in a relevant environment. The expected contribution of RUMI-2 to the utility industry is: 1) Accurate robotic 3D utility mapping and digitalization; 2) Precise robotic drill-head tracking with multiple magnetic dipole transceivers; and 3) Effective robotic HDD cross-bore/obstacle avoidance.