Researchers develop robot cleaners for trains

Four projects will last 10 months and share £250,000 of funding to address “dangerous, difficult, dirty and dull” tasks

The Rail Safety and Standards Board is funding four projects to develop robotic and autonomous systems for cleaning and maintaining trains.

Luisa Moisio, head of research and development at the board, said: “Although other parts of the industry, such as Network Rail, are introducing automated systems for maintenance and cleaning, we noticed there was a gap with maintenance and cleaning of trains. There is no independent company with the right knowledge and expertise.

“These projects will get the ball rolling, but ultimately we want to achieve a step change in the way trains are cleaned and maintained.”

The four projects will last 10 months and share £250,000 of funding to address “dangerous, difficult, dirty and dull” tasks.

Researchers from Cranfield and Heriot-Watt Universities are developing robots to clean the front of cabs. Engineers at Southampton Solent University are developing automated non-destructive testing techniques for train wheels, while another project being led by a team from the University of Birmingham is looking at developing robotic systems to rework the wheels. Researchers from Brunel University are developing an automated system to service ‘passenger train fluids’. 

Moisio said that the constraints of today’s trains made it difficult to adapt existing technologies from other industries, but that more trains were being developed with automated inspection and monitoring systems. “I believe that maintenance has the highest potential. There is a chance to make big changes here, with great time and cost savings.”

She added that there had been an increase in the amount of blue-skies research in the rail industry within the past few years. The Rail Safety and Standards Board is calling for solutions to safely increase capacity at stations, focusing on the platform-train interface. 

“We focus on novel concepts and early development work, and some projects are so long that the early-stage work is forgotten about. Research also has to take account of industry requirements, which most often focus on control-period timeframes. They have to want to spend time, and commit to seven- to nine-year research projects,” she said.