Climbing and pole line hardware installation robot for construction of distribution lines

This paper presents a new robot prototype for the construction of Hydro-Québec´s overhead distribution lines. It details the main sub-systems of the robot, such as the climbing system (for climbing poles), the crossarm manipulation system (which handles crossarms and selects tools for drilling holes and inserting bolts), and the bolting system (for fixing crossarms and braces on poles). The robot is made to ascend and descend a pole by teleoperation, and the installation of a pre-assembled crossarm (with brace, pins, insulators and clamps) at the top of a 40-foot pole is performed in full automatic mode. Tests have demonstrated the efficiency of this robotized construction method in installing the line hardware of a three-phase distribution line on a 40-foot pole in 25 minutes.