Smart tools for railway inspection and maintenance work, performance and safety improvement

Abstract

The rail sector faces significant challenges as a wide variety of heterogeneous working methods, the continued raising of the workforce average age, and the lack of young workers interested in such physically demanding work. STREAM supports LEAN execution of intelligent inspection and maintenance procebes promoting and implementing technologies to improve safety, prevent incidents and accidents, and support workers in maintenance activities. The ambition is to significantly enhance operational planning, safety, and performance while causing little change to current work procebes. STREAM contributes to two leading technologies: The OTA3M, a control platform adapted to existing excavators that provides autonomous multi-purpose operations enabling safe worker-machine collaboration. The MMPE is a modular multi-tasking exoskeleton developed to assist track workers during heavy activities.