Ghislain Lambert

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

This paper presents a new robot prototype for the construction of Hydro-Québecs 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.

Development of a mobile robotic platform for the underground distribution lines

This paper discusses the work accomplished for the development of a new mobile robotic platform for the Hydro-Quebecpsilas underground power distribution lines. After an overview of few past robotic systems elaborated for the distribution networks, this article details the systems of the mobile robotic platform which seems to be the first in the literature dedicated to the underground distribution lines. We present the vehicle with an articulated chassis selected for this research project to reach the site of an underground vault of the Hydro-Quebecpsilas distribution network. Then, we describe a five-degree-of-freedom hydraulic arm that is assembled on the vehicle and designed to go down in an underground vault. We present the specific tools made for the operation and maintenance of an underground switch. The different tools are handled by a six-degree-of-freedom electric manipulator with integrated electronics especially designed for this project. We discuss the geometrical architecture, the mechanical design, and the kinematic and dynamic simulations of this manipulator. The first experimental tests were successfully performed in November and December 2007 at the Hydro-Quebecpsilas Research Institute site in a simulated vault where the tasks on the underground switch were done in an automatic mode (no teleoperation) supervised by the operator.

Field tests of a robot system prototype for the underground distribution lines

This paper describes a R&D project at Hydro-Québecs Research Institute (IREQ) regarding the development of a mobile robot for underground distribution lines. It discusses the advantages of a robotic system for the operation and maintenance of power distribution lines. The tasks to be performed on a Joslyn load break switch located in an underground vault are given, and the prototype of the robot system with its main sub-systems is presented. Field tests with this robot system at IREQs vault and at a de-energized vault of the distribution network in Montreal are commented.

Kinematic and dynamic analysis of a novel 6-DOF serial manipulator for underground distribution power lines

This paper presents a new 6-DOF serial manipulator with five revolute joints and one prismatic joint, designed to operate equipment inside Hydro-Québec underground distribution vaults. The manipulator is an upgraded model developed after field testing a 6-DOF wrist-partitioned serial manipulator prototype. The new manipulator architecture is intended to solve space constraint problems in some vaults. This paper covers the geometrical model of the new manipulator, an analytical solution for the inverse kinematic equations, the dynamic model used to compute torques/forces at the actuators, and simulations performed with MATLAB and CATIA. The manipulator is the only robot application in the world designed to operate equipment on underground distribution power lines.

R&D phases of a mobile robot prototype applied to underground distribution lines

This video summarizes the R&D phases of the first robot prototype designed to operate and maintain equipment in vaults for Hydro-Québecs underground distribution lines, carried out between 2003 and 2009. Detailed segments discuss projects context, proof of concept, simulations, description and design of robotic platform subsystems, prototype testing at IREQ in the lab and in an outdoor vault, field testing in Montreal on a Joslyn switch in a de-energized vault, and the future of the project.