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 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, lift platform, and a macro/micro manipulator. 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.