Importance and Applications of Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) in Railway Maintenance Sector: A Review <s> 99 <s> Maintenance shops appear to be the most likely locations for robots in the railroad industry. The few robots that railroads have installed are found in shops, and shop activities such as welding, grinding, cleaning, and painting are well-suited to the use of standard robots. The study identifies and evaluates more than two dozen technically feasible applications at Conrail's Juniata locomotive rebuilding shop. Fewer than half showed financial merit, primarily because of the high investment cost and the low potential for labor savings. Proposals to install an automated glass bead blasting booth and an arc welding center were deferred because competing projects had higher returns. In short the application of robotics technology was found to have only a limited potential for improving the productivity of modern railroad shops. As the state-of-the art advances, more applications will be both technically and economically attractive, but the impact on railroad maintenance will likely remain modest until equipment is redesigned to be maintained with simple, inexpensive robots. <s> BIB001 </s> Importance and Applications of Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) in Railway Maintenance Sector: A Review <s> 99 <s> A description is given of a feasibility study which clearly indicated that robotics for undercar cleaning is indeed viable, both technically and economically. The proposed final system will combine water and air cleaning in the existing degreasing bay suitably modified by the addition of a second platform and appropriate walls and doors. Three robots will be used (one in the center and two on the outsides) each on its own track (approximately 60 m long) to permit cleaning a pair of cars at a time. An industrial vision system will be used to detect the exact position of the car and to correct the robots' starting positions on the tracks. The present frequency of cleaning can be achieved in less than two shifts with the proposed system, thus permitting more frequent cleaning and some fleet expansion. Other possible applications of automation to transit vehicle maintenance are also discussed. > <s> BIB002
Further, it has been revealed that rolling stock maintenance could be clustered and distributed 100 over local contractors. This will encourage them to be specialists in the field, and apply techniques to 101 achieve increased productivity through automation  . Additionally, it has been identified that 102 increased automation is a key objective in the Rail Technical Strategy 2012, and it is expected to 103 obtain operational cost benefits by intelligent maintenance techniques   . Therefore, the 104 introduction of autonomous systems in order to eliminate or minimize human intervention in 105 maintenance processes would be an ideal technique, and it can be viewed that the railway industry 106 in the UK, including many other countries, is in the right stage to invest in automation   . than two dozen of processes into consideration. Through this study, he has concluded that there is 112 only limited potential for improving the productivity of the rail workshop through RAS and it will 113 remain modest until equipment and technology become economical BIB001 . In contrast, another 114 feasibility study that was conducted by Wiercienski and Leek two years later has concluded that the 115 use of robots to clean the undersides of Toronto subway cars is viable, both technically and 116 economically. They have proposed a system that includes three industrial robots and an industrial 117 vision system to wash undersides of two subway cars simultaneously BIB002 .