Development of a semi-automated on-the-road painting machine

Abstract

Currently, the widely used machines for painting road lanes in Malaysia are manually operated. The nature of the operation is not only labour-intensive but also time-consuming. Furthermore, the operator is being constantly exposed to high risk situations such as potential hazard inflicted by hot-melted paint and collision with passing vehicles especially on heavily used road. To overcome these issues and yet maintaining the operational cost lowest as possible, this project is aimed to design and develop a semi-automated road lane painting system comprising of an automated paint delivery mechanism that is capable of producing different line patterns on a road surface mounted on a mobile platform and attached to an electric bicycle as the prime mover. The automated paint delivery mechanism is designed using a mechatronic approach. An Arduino microcontroller is employed to automate the sequences of operations of various devices by means of a computer program controlled by human via a remote control device (touch screen). A safety lamp and a camera with a reasonably large Liquid-Crystal Display (LCD) screen are incorporated into the system as additional commercially attractive features. A crude work prototype of the semi-automated road lane painting device was developed and experimentally tested on actual road conditions. The results indicate that the system can perform the basic task; however, the quality of the painted lines requires further improvement. As such, the potential commercial value of the proposed and crudely developed semi-automated road lane painting system may trigger considerable interest in both the academic and industrial sectors.