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M2000: A Semi-Autonomous System for High-Speed Paint Removal
Head: John Bares
Contact: William P Ross (br@cs.cmu.edu)
Mailing address:
National Robotics Engineering Consortium
Ten 40th Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15201
Associated center: NREC
For more information, see this project's homepage.
A typical supertanker has roughly 6-12 acres (240,000-480,000 square feet) of painted hull surface and must be repainted frequently. Before the ship can be painted, marine growth, corrosion and many layers of old paint and primers must be stripped off. Current methods employ dozens of laborers on lifts to grit blast the surface at a cost of approximately $1.75 per square foot. This method has many drawbacks including dangers to workers, low speed, high cost and undesirable environmental impacts.
UltraStrip Systems (USS) has developed the first version of a robotic, water-jet based, paint stripping machine for rapid removal of paint from the hulls of large ships The new UltraStrip robot system uses a very-high-pressure water jet (40,000 psi) to strip the hull down to bare metal. All the water used in the stripping is recovered by a powerful vacuum system and recycled. The only residue of the cleaning is the paint itself which is automatically dumped into containers for proper disposal.
UltraStrip plans to improve their system through a partnership with the NREC and NASA. By utilizing advanced robotic technologies, we will create a second-generation paint stripping robot which will be faster, more efficient, more flexible, and easier to use. These technologies will increase robot performance while reducing operator workload. The cost-benefit of the automation will lie in lower cost stripping per ship as well as shorter dry dock stays, both of which increase the viability and marketability of the M2000 system. Work is underway on the redesign of the system and on preliminary components for the automation of the system. We expect to demonstrate the second-generation robot in the Fall of 2000.
Project sponsors include UltraStrip Systems and NASA.