At Huanghua Port in Hebei Province on the Chinese mainland, a trio of intelligent robots is changing how freight trains are inspected. Operated by the Suning maintenance branch of the China Energy Railway Equipment Co., Ltd., the system can handle up to 10 trains a day.
Wang Peng, deputy general manager at Suning’s maintenance branch, reports that the robots have achieved a 100 percent common fault recognition rate. He explains, 'The robot set – one inspecting the train's underside and two checking its sides – can inspect 54 carriages in 135 minutes.'
Looking ahead, Wang expects to deploy ten side-inspecting robots within four months. This will slash the routine that once required 16 workers over 50 minutes per train to just 27 minutes handled entirely by machines.
Dispatcher Zhang Hao describes the process: 'The 15-centimeter-thick robot beneath the train completes a round trip in under three minutes, photographing key areas before returning to recharge. On the sides, each robot’s dual mechanical arms move vertically, horizontally and rotationally, scanning one carriage in about 2.5 minutes.'
During each run, the robotic team captures 9,450 high-definition images. The intelligent system then analyzes the data to highlight locations and over 120 types of suspected faults almost instantly.
Veteran maintenance worker Lyu Dawei notes, 'Robots indeed work with higher precision than humans,' after years of hands-on wheel inspections. As global supply chains push for faster, more reliable freight services, this boost in rail automation could signal a new era in logistics efficiency.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
