Bots2ReC – Analysis of Key Findings for the Application Development of Semi-Autonomous Asbestos Removal

The removal of asbestos from existing buildings is a socially important and challenging renovation process due to the handling of hazardous materials. The EU project Robots to ReConstruction (Bots2ReC) has developed a robotic system for semi-autonomous asbestos removal for apartment buildings. The removal of plaster and tiles and the associated tile adhesive is implemented as a semi-autonomous construction task by mobile manipulators and integrated into the existing construction process. The development is based on a test-driven approach in order to obtain information about the achievable performance and the acceptance of the human operators as early as possible. The identification of the control variables for the respective tools and the embedding in the on-site process flow are named as the main reasons for the test-driven approach. The analysis of selected key findings of the project shows for the developed semantic mapping via mobile robot that a minimal, application-specific data format favours an efficient overall process control via task planning up to execution. In the development of mobile bases for the application, it can be shown that a holonomic drive is preferable to a differential drive due to the partly narrow and angled parts of the building. To carry out the intended processes and to guide the automated power tools, the in-house development of serial manipulators is necessary, since the combination of the required working space with the occurring weight and process forces cannot be solved within the requirements by an industrial manipulator. Finally, the main benefit of this papers contribution is seen in the transferable outcomes to other on-site automation projects.