A Coordinated, Multiple Wheeled Mobile Robot System for AHS Maintenance and Construction

Automated Highway Systems (AHS) will likely have numerous items including sensors and other electronics that are not present in conventional highways, and these pose both unique problems and opportunities from a maintenance and construction viewpoint. This paper reports on a new and unique concept for maintaining AHS which could also benefit traditional highway operations. The paper discusses a system of multiple wheeled mobile robots that are coordinated to accomplish complex tasks, and are tethered to a support vehicle for accurate relative positioning, power, and other necessary supplies. Multiple coordinated WMRs are proposed since many AHS maintenance and construction operations will involve several concurrent subtasks.