Towards Computer Integrated Road Construction

Two noticeable events will speed-up the development of road construction robotics the recent availability on the market of adapted localization systems, the increasingly developing utilization of computer aided design in the study of road construction projects. Currently, no links do exist between the design studies and the construction work involving digital data which could be used for programming automated equipment. In this paper, the authors first describe a homogeneous family of equipment units as compared to the control and localization problems, i.e. : the levelling/profiling units. Then, after having described the existing or draft localization systems and the CAD tools currently used in France, the authors describe a simulation model of an operator assistance system for levelling/profiling machines. This moke-up unit allows introducing the various concepts required for the achievement of a CIC system, and the research axis to be developed to reach that objective.