Puttybot: A sensorized robot for autonomous putty plastering

Abstract

Plastering is dominated manually, exhibiting low levels of automation and inconsistent finished quality. A comprehensive review of literature indicates that extant plastering robots demonstrate a subpar performance when tasked with rectifying defects in the transition area. The limitations encompass a lack of capacity to independently evaluate the quality of work or perform remedial plastering procedures. To address this issue, this research describes the system design of the Puttybot and a paradigm of plastering to solve the stated problems. The Puttybot consists of a mobile chassis, a lift platform, and a macro/micromanipulator. The force‐controlled scraper parameters have been calibrated to dynamically modify their rigidity in response to the applied putty. This strategy utilizes convolutional neural networks to identify plastering defects and executes the plastering operation with force feedback. This paradigm's effectiveness was validated during an autonomous plastering trial wherein a large‐scale wall was processed without human involvement.