Robotic System Seals Road Cracks

Brief

Only two workers are needed to operate the CrackPro Robotic Maintenance Vehicle that robotically seals road cracks. The truck-mounted system developed by SealMaster and Pioneer Industrial Systems uses artificial intelligence and high-resolution cameras and lasers to find and gauge cracks before applying sealant.

Insight

A robotic sealcoat vehicle has hit the market that automatically finds and seals cracks and only uses two workers.The CrackPro Robotic Maintenance Vehicle is the result of a partnership between SealMaster and Pioneer Industrial Systems, whose president, Todd Hendricks, invented the concept.

He said he got the idea in 2019 after watching a crack seal crew and thought there should be a safer, more efficient way. The company then set up its RMV division and reached out to SealMaster.The RMV has been showing up at trade shows with more planned events for later this year. It will also be distributed through SealMaster’s franchise network.

The RMV consists of a Fanuc R2000 robotic arm, a SealMaster CrackPro 260 sealing unit, an air blow-off system to remove debris from the road, and an AI vision system made up of high-resolution cameras and lasers to find and measure the cracks. The system is powered by a 480-volt three-phase Stateline generator. All of the components are mounted to a Class 7 heavy-duty truck chassis.

The RMV requires an operator to drive the truck and a worker to stay on the back to monitor the application of the sealant and to refill the crack sealant tank.The company says it can seal faster than a crew doing the work manually. The video below shows the RMV versus a crew:

As the AI vision system finds and measures the cracks, the data is used to map the cracks and send the information to the robotic arm. The driver can watch a monitor, which shows a camera feed of the arm. An LED light on the windshield turns red when the driver needs to stop to let the robot work and turns green when it’s time to move.

The RMV can also operate at night and works on parking lots as well as roads, the company says.