An autonomous carrier to repair road potholes with a cold asphalt mixture

The development of a new robotized system based on the 3D-printer technology is a specific task of an ongoing Horizon 2020 EU research project (InfraROB). The system consists of a small autonomous carrier designed to extrude a mixture to fill potholes on road pavement. The proposed system will allow the preventative approach to infrastructure maintenance during the early stages of road degradation when potholes are still small. The machine can autonomously reach the pothole position, while the operator remains in a safe area, thus reducing workers’ exposure to traffic. Due to the autonomous carrier reduced dimensions, the asphalt mixture has to comply with different constraints; laboratory and in situ tests have been performed to achieve and balance different conflicting performances. The paper describes the mixture definition carried out in parallel with the preliminary design of the robotized carrier and 3D-printer to fit the requirements of the system.