Hydro-quebec

Ontario Hydro

Scott McNabb

Jean-Luc Fihey

Antonio Di Vincenzo

Bruce Hazel

Mark Tinkler

A method and apparatus for automatically sensing the configuration of a damaged surface area and wherein the apparatus is provided with an arc gouging tool, a welding tool, and a grinding tool to gouge damaged areas and fill them with weld material to at least the surface profile of the surface in the working environment and to grind the filled areas flush with the surface of the working environment. A track is bent to a profile enabling the apparatus to work without any collision with its environment while keeping full access to the work area. The geometry of the track is generally unknown to the control circuit of the robot. A motor-actuated robot member is connected to the track and is displaceable on the track by a motorized element. A working arm is displaceably coupled to the robot member and has one or more working tools connected thereto. A control circuit displaces the robot and operates the working arm and tool. The working arm has a sensor connected thereto with a probe to sense parameters and to feed information data of the X, Y and Z coordinates to the control circuit to determine the geometry of the surface of the working environment and contour of areas in the working environment requiring a work procedure to be effected by the one or more working tools.

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Etobicoke, Canada

Scott McNabb