Highways England is using an autonomous ROBOT to paint white lines

The time-saving, line-painting robot can mark up a section of road in four hours instead of the week it would take two humans.

Highways England line-marking robot

Highways England has revealed its latest gadget to help speed up roadworks – an autonomous robot that helps cut the time it takes to paint white lines.

Developed by contractor WJ, the robotic pre-marker uses precise positioning technology to mark out where white lines need to be painted.

It recently marked up an eight-mile section of the M6 motorway in Staffordshire in four hours. Two engineers would normally take more than a week to do the same job.

Highways England line-marking robot

Pre-marking roads for white lines is a tiresome job; humans have to calculate where the markings need to be, then walk miles to bend down and spray or chalk them onto the road.

This is both dangerous and arduous, increasing the risk of back injuries.

The robot is proving increasingly popular with Highways England contractors: it has worked on the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement, plus the M4, the M1 and the M60.

Highways England line-marking robot

“We’re always looking at innovative new ways of working,” said Julian Lamb, A14 construction director. “With safety our top priority, the time savings the robot can provide, coupled with removing our operatives from a potentially hazardous situation, make it a great solution”  

Lamb added Highways England has also been working with the manufacturers of a self-driving dumper truck on the A14 project.

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Richard Aucock
Richard Aucockhttps://www.richardaucock.co.uk/
Richard is director at Motoring Research. He has been with us since 2001, and has been a motoring journalist even longer. He won the IMCO Motoring Writer of the Future Award in 1996 and the acclaimed Sir William Lyons Award in 1998. Both awards are run by the Guild of Motoring Writers and Richard is currently vice chair of the world's largest organisation for automotive media professionals. Richard is also a juror for World Car Awards and the UK juror for the AUTOBEST awards.

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