Service robot for hull-blasting

Abstract

Present grit blasting technology for hull cleaning is very pollutant, environmentally unaffordable, and it is progressively forbidden in the most environmental countries (mainly north of Europe). At the time being, the above methodology has been partially substituted by ultra highpressure water blasting, however they do not show as good performance as the grit blasting systems. This paper describes a service robot for hull blasting. The technology we developed consists of the cleaning head, the robot body, the remote control unit and the teleoperation platform. This solution allows a reliable and cost effective operation regarding hull grit blasting, obtaining a high quality surface preparation (SA 2 ½) together with a dramatic reduction of waste and zero emissions to environment. A prototype of the robot has been developed and tested in IZAR shipyards. We presents the functional requirements, system concept and architecture of this robot. This work was supported by the Spanish government, the European Union (CICYT-FEDER)