Robots created for the purpose of traveling along thousands of miles of power lines are about to make their debut over the next several years, particularly in the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline region, where trials are set to begin in 2014.
The power line robots will weigh in at 140 pounds and their length will be six feet long.
Their mode of moving will be rollers attached to them which they'll move along at a respectable 3 mph. Special cables will be attached which they can use to navigate around pylons.
Although they'll have solar panels on them, their major source of energy will be the electricity in the power lines themselves (shield wire), with the panels being a backup power system.
Each robot will be able to cover approximately 160 miles of line a year, and cost less than $500,000. That sounds steep, but is less than what it costs for helicopter carrying inspection crews.
This will be interesting, but inspection crews won't have to worry about their jobs just yet, as there is still a need for human eyeballs, and it'll obviously take some time before these robots are ready for prime-time, or to do the job completely by themselves.
After all, what's the point of paying that much for them when you still have to pay for human help?
Testing for the robots will begin in the latter part of June.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Robots Looking For Your Job?
As if human competition isn't enough, now we have robots adapting to prepare themselves to fit better into the workplace, ultimately being cheaper than humans, and in a number of cases, replacing them.
Well, at least the manufacturers of robots are responding to needs in the workplace and adapting in order to place their robots in an larger number of places.
"Big robots were often behind fences," Jeff Burnstein, president of the trade group Robotic Industries Assn. "Now, we’re seeing movement in making robots more intrinsically safe so they can work side-by-side with humans."
The changing market conditions for robots is significantly increasing demand, as it will grow for personal robots along from $1.16 billion in 2009 to an estimated $5.26 billion by 2015.
Well, at least the manufacturers of robots are responding to needs in the workplace and adapting in order to place their robots in an larger number of places.
"Big robots were often behind fences," Jeff Burnstein, president of the trade group Robotic Industries Assn. "Now, we’re seeing movement in making robots more intrinsically safe so they can work side-by-side with humans."
The changing market conditions for robots is significantly increasing demand, as it will grow for personal robots along from $1.16 billion in 2009 to an estimated $5.26 billion by 2015.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Contact Page Robots
Contact Us
You can contact any of the authors of Robots: Past, Present, Future at raesally@comcast.net. Authors can be fowarded your email if you want to contact one individually.
Allen Nine
Gary Thomas
Tomassino Conito
Jim Stevens
Ellen Stevens
Ray Esally
Kyle Simon
You can contact any of the authors of Robots: Past, Present, Future at raesally@comcast.net. Authors can be fowarded your email if you want to contact one individually.
Allen Nine
Gary Thomas
Tomassino Conito
Jim Stevens
Ellen Stevens
Ray Esally
Kyle Simon
Robots: Past, Present, Future Authors
Robots: Past, Present, Future Authors:
Allen Nine
Gary Thomas
Tomassino Conito
Jim Stevens
Ellen Stevens
Ray Esally
Kyle Simon
Allen Nine
Gary Thomas
Tomassino Conito
Jim Stevens
Ellen Stevens
Ray Esally
Kyle Simon
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