As our organization strives for efficiency and safety, we recognize the need to deploy innovative technologies to mitigate hazards associated with manual road object removal.
Roads are prone to various objects such as debris, fallen branches from trees, abandoned vehicles, construction materials, car parts, mattresses, mid-sized run-over animals, and other obstacles that pose significant safety risks to motorists and pedestrians. Traditional manual methods of removing these objects require workers to be exposed to potentially hazardous environments, making them susceptible to accidents, injuries, and even fatalities.
The primary objective of this challenge is to develop an automated solution that can efficiently and safely remove objects from roads without the direct involvement of human workers. The solution should prioritize employee safety, ensuring that they are not exposed to dangerous road conditions during the object removal process.
The proposed automated solution should ensure that workers are not required to physically cross the street or step out of their vehicles during the object removal process. This will minimize their exposure to oncoming traffic and potential hazards.
1. Worker Safety: The proposed solution must prioritize worker safety by ensuring that workers are not required to physically cross the street or step out of the vehicle during the object removal process.
2. Object Dimensions: The automated system must be capable of removing objects of varying dimensions, accommodating items such as tire debris, car parts, mattresses, and mid-sized run-over animals.
3. Minimum Velocity: The automated removal process should be designed to work efficiently at a minimum velocity of 20 Km/hour, ensuring timely and safe object removal even in moderate traffic conditions. Note: For your reference 50 km/hour is the minimum possible speed at highway
4. Animal Safety: When addressing up-to mid-sized run-over animals, the solution should lift them instead of dragging to maintain the body consistency
5. Equipment: The proposed solution should involve the use of 70 electric vans, 2WD with gross weight below 3.500kg , equipped with the necessary technology and mechanisms to perform automated road object removal. The proposed solution needs to be adaptable to different models of vans (standard vans/models from OEM’s). The proposed solution must have some sort of “shock absorbing” to avoid damaging the van once touches the object at a certain speed level. Depending on the solution this could be extended to additional 70 double cab vans (2WD with gross weight below 3.500kg).
6. Aerodynamic Efficiency: The proposed solution should aim to be the most aerodynamic as possible. The design of the automated system, including any components or vehicles involved, should prioritize aerodynamic efficiency to minimize energy consumption and improve overall performance during the object removal process. Reduce of efficiency is tolerable up to a 5% increase in average consumption.
7. Real-Time Detection: The system should be capable of real-time detection and identification of various objects on the road, including tire debris, car parts, mattresses, and run-over animals during night period (to avoid excess alarms during day time).
8. Automated Removal: The solution should include a mechanism or method to safely and efficiently remove objects from the road without causing additional hazards or disruptions to traffic flow, since this vehicle will be operating alone in the road.
9. Versatility: The system should be adaptable to several types of roads, weather conditions, and geographical regions.
10. Remote Operation: The automated system must be designed to be remotely operated from within the vehicle to eliminate the need for manual worker intervention on the road.
11. Real-Time Monitoring: The system should provide real-time monitoring capabilities for workers operating the removal process from a safe distance within the vehicle.
12. Safety Interlocks: Implement safety interlocks and emergency stop mechanisms to enable immediate halting of the removal process if any safety risks are detected.
13. Communication Protocols: Establish clear communication protocols between the automated system and workers in the vehicle to relay important information and updates throughout the process.
14. Scalability: The proposed solution should be scalable to handle varying volumes of objects to be removed efficiently on different types of roads and geographical regions.
15. Cost-Effectiveness: The solution should strike a balance between efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness to ensure practical implementation.
16. Documentation: Solvers must provide detailed documentation outlining the technical specifications, safety measures, operational procedures of their proposed solution and minimum characteristics of the vehicles to ensure the operation.
1. Environmental Impact: Solutions that have a significant adverse environmental impact and fail to incorporate eco-friendly practices may be excluded.
2. No Mobile Application: Solutions that involve the development or use of a mobile application for the automated road object removal process will be excluded.
3. No towing: Solution cannot include any kind of solution that involves towing any trailer/or other sort of equipment.
