Highway construction teams are using robotic layout equipment to streamline repetitive surveying tasks while keeping surveyors responsible for field verification and quality control. Pulice is deploying the technology on the U.S. 69 Tyler County project in East Texas, where the contractor is working for the Texas Department of Transportation.
The TinySurveyor robotic system uses project design data and survey positioning technology to mark points and lines on the ground. Survey personnel load the relevant information into the system and monitor its operation as the equipment performs layout work.
The approach allows surveyors to spend less time walking through large work areas to complete repetitive markings. Their responsibilities remain focused on establishing survey controls, managing control data, checking accuracy and addressing more complex field conditions.
The technology is being used as part of Pulice’s work on the U.S. 69 Tyler County project. The highway project calls for approximately 10 miles of U.S. 69 to be widened to a four-lane divided highway.
The planned improvements include wider shoulders that can function as hurricane evacuation lanes and a broad vegetated median intended to improve roadway safety and capacity along the Gateway to the Big Thicket corridor.
Pulice is performing the work for the Texas Department of Transportation.
Robotic layout equipment can shift repetitive surveying activities from manual field marking toward technology-assisted operations while retaining surveyor oversight. On large highway projects, reducing the amount of time survey personnel spend on foot near traffic and construction equipment can also support field safety.
The U.S. 69 project illustrates how contractors are incorporating automated layout tools into established surveying workflows without removing professional responsibility for control, verification and quality assurance.
Source: Pulice.
