Nebraska professor develops robotic highway barrels, cones

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The orange construction cones and barrels that litter Nebraska's highways may be going high-tech.

A University of Nebraska professor has developed robotic cones and barrels that can move out of the way, or into place, from computer commands made miles away.

They can even be programmed to move on their own at any particular part of the day, said Shane Farritor, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Nebraska.

For example, if workers arrived at 6 a.m., the cones could move from the shoulder to block off the lane at that time, then return to the side of the highway at the end of the day.

"It just seems like a very good application for robots," Farritor said Thursday.

The robotic cones would also help remove people from hazardous jobs on the highway putting barrels and cones into place, Farritor said in a report on his creation.

Work on the idea began in 2002 using a National Academy of Sciences grant. Farritor worked on the project with graduate students at Nebraska and computer science assistant professor Steve Goddard.

The robots are placed at the bottom of the cones and barrels and are small enough not to greatly alter the appearance of the seemingly ubiquitous construction aides.

"It would look exactly the same," Farritor said. "Normally there's a kind of rubbery, black base to them. We replace that with a robot." Farritor has talked with officials from the Nebraska Department of Roads about how the robots would be most useful to what they might need.

The robots could come in handy following a slow-moving maintenance operation, like painting a stripe on a road or moving asphalt, where now the barrels have to be picked up and moved as the operation proceeds, Farritor said.

"That way you don't have to block off a 10-mile strip," he said.

While prototypes have been made, they are not in use anywhere. Farritor said he has applied for a patent and is considering what to do next. He is thinking about starting a small business and trying to market the robots to roads departments and others across the country who may benefit from them.

ON THE NET

Farritor's robots: robots.unl.edu/farritor/