Multifunctional Arm for Telerobotic Wind Turbine Blade Repair

Within the Multi-Platform Inspection, Maintenance and Repair in Extreme Environments (MIMRee) project, a lightweight and multifunctional robotic repair arm is created for wind turbine blades. The design features a toolbox at the base of the arm housing multiple end-effector tools and an autonomous end-effector tool-changer. The arm communicates commands and data via internet with a bespoke user interface enabling human-in-the-loop operation and overriding of autonomous repair actions. This paper outlines our approach in design, development, testing and control of the robotic repair system. The functionalities of the arm include cleaning, sanding, and filler material deposition and forming, each using a bespoke end-effector tool closely replicating the relevant manual repair process. The experimental results confirm the effectiveness of our approach indicating a maximum end-effector position error of 3 mm, a maximum tool switching time of 8 seconds, and a maximum arm’s weight of 1.8 kg. This presents around 84% weight reduction compared with existing technologies used for the same purpose. Our standalone design enables modular integration into a wide range of mobile platform types used in industrial operations.