Smart City Challenge: Automatic Painting of Traffic Lights (6K € in Prizes)

Can you come up with a solution to automate the painting of traffic lights? Participate in the ennomotive Smart City Challenge and win up to 6,000 EUR.

Background

Some city services are truly labor-intensive which, together with the growth of cities and the city halls’ tight budgets, make it hard for the city to look clean and tidy at all times.

The Smart City Challenge

One of the most labor-intensive maintenance works is the regular painting of street furniture. The most repetitive case is the painting of traffic lights and street light maintenance in coastal cities, where the weather accelerates the rusting. The painting requires a truck with a hydraulically operated lift platform to be able to access the top, which usually blocks one or two lanes.For this reason, the painting needs to be during the night. The characteristics of the paint of these street elements are the following:

• Surface to be painted: 7,2 to 10 m2
• Weight of required paint: 1-1,5 Kg for roller paint, 3-4,5Kg for spray paint
• Approximate maximum height:  6m for traffic lights, up to 12m for street lights
• The diameter of the post: in between 50mm and 250mm

What we are looking for

A solution that drastically improves the productivity of the current hand-painting process is needed. Semi-automation or complete automation can be implemented, either by incorporating elements on the truck or by creating autonomous robots, among other ideas. This smart city challenge will accelerate the maintenance and repainting process of the street lights and traffic lights. The solution will be assessed in terms of efficiency (how much it improves the current productivity levels), and in terms of annual operating expense (including the amount of paint required per element), maintenance and initial investment. It will also be taken into account how much the solutions affect the traffic.

Evaluation Criteria

• The time required for the painting.
• Level of investment

• Amount of paint required.

• Hours per worker needed.

This is a 1-rounds tournament with the following submissions First round

• Proposed painting process description.
• 3D drawing of the required equipment and/or tools.

• Feasibility evidence.

• Business case.

Timeline

1st round – 31st January + 3 weeks evaluation

Reward

The winner of the Smart City Challenge will be awarded a 4,000 € prize and 1,000 € for both the 2nd and 3rd best solution. [botonpost link=https://app.ennomotive.com/#!/challenges/59f745206f23aa0c00faf200]Participate in the Challenge[/botonpost]