Telerobotic system for live-power line maintenance: ROBTET

This paper is focused on a telerobotic application for the maintenance of electrical live-power lines, called ROBTET. Maintenance-related tasks are of great relevance for utilities companies, as their goal of achieving a good service quality depends to a great extent on maintenance and inspection issues. On live lines up to 69 kV, the tasks are carried out by teleoperated robots. These manipulators are teleoperated by a human operator sitting in a vehicle required to place the telerobotic system over the desired line. In this paper, the main developments in live-line teleoperated systems are mentioned, followed by a detailed description of the ROBTET. This telerobotic system has been developed by the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, in collaboration with Iberdrola and Cobra, a Spanish utility company and contractor, respectively. The ROBTET system has been in operation in the Spanish electricity network for over a year, which attests to the success of the prototype,and also allows for the incorporation of improvements. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.