Automation of Measurements and Marking for Industrial Floor Grinding Using a Mobile Robot

In the construction or renovation of industrial floors, surface flatness is crucial for its intended use, particularly in facilities designed for production and logistics, such as automotive manufacturing lines or expansive retail warehouses. Deviations w.r.t. the flatness can complicate the installation of machinery and limit maximum heights for storage racks, potentially rendering the construction unfeasible. Therefore, high standards, requiring deviations of less than three millimeters within a one-meter grid, must be met for floor flatness in accordance to DIN 18202:2019-07. Following the installation of the screed, such a flatness check for approval is conducted for industrial floors. Usually, this time-consuming survey is carried out manually along a grid, which has to be defined in advance, using a tacheometer or level. If floor flatness deviations exceed a specified limit, corrective work is necessary. Elevated areas can be ground down to achieve the required level. For this process, it is mandatory to determine the location of the elevations, the maximum height deviations and their dimensions, as well as to mark them on-site. ... mehrIn this contribution we introduce our self-developed mobile robotic platform RITA, which considerably simplifies this process by automating the measurements, the processing of the data and the application of indicative markings. RITA is a compact battery-operated robot in combination with a tacheometer or laser tracker for different applications, enabling efficient measurement of floor flatness and accurate marking of areas with elevations. Based on the color markings applied to the floor, targeted and safe grinding of the areas requiring rework can thus be ensured.