Maintenance and Safety of the Road Infrastructure by a New Robotised System for Pothole Repair

The essential needs to maintain the integrity, performance, and safety of road infrastructures have been tackled in InfraROB, a research project funded by the EU research programme Horizon 2020 that aims to reach that objective through autonomous robotised solutions. A specific task of the project is the development of a 3D printer able to extrude a mixture for filling in small potholes. The printer is integrated into a small carrier that can autonomously reach the pothole while the operator remains in a safe roadside area. The study about the mixture was focused on material that, immediately after the laying, can be compacted by the wheels of the maintenance vehicle itself and later by the traffic vehicles. The development of the novel system, and its integration into an autonomous carrier was divided into four different phases: i) definition of the constraints due to the autonomous carrier; ii) definition of the parameters of the 3D printer system and repairing mixture; iii) design and construction of the 3D printer, and iv) system integration with the autonomous carrier. The final choice led to a mixture composed of 100% Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement and rejuvenator to be extruded through a head complying with the requested dimensions and weight. This paper also describes the printer’s design consistent with the robot dimension and the preliminary phase of its integration with the autonomous carrier.