Robotic Maintenance Vehicles began as a concept from Pioneer Industrial Systems (PIS) to provide safer work zones for our nation’s highway maintenance crews. As an Authorized Systems Integrator for FANUC America, Pioneer Industrial Systems’ expertise is in robotics and automation, specifically in the areas of fluid dispensing, vision systems, line tracking, modular designs, and system integration. The team had repeatedly found that automation increases safety and realized that it could help greatly reduce the risks when it came to road maintenance work and bring many more benefits. 

The safety concern was recognized in late 2019 by the president of PIS, Todd Hendricks, when he noticed on his daily commute to work how dangerous crack sealing and other basic road maintenance tasks were. Routine road maintenance entails high-risk safety conditions, high labor costs, and labor-intensive. When it comes to Pioneer Industrial Systems, their goal is to create solutions that make a difference. Todd had wondered how he could apply their robotic integration expertise to increase safety and efficiency in routine road maintenance.  

Todd Hendricks said, “We can do that with a robot!” 

To bring this concept to life, we have integrated an R2000iC onto a full truck chassis, equipped with components that create a more efficient form of maintenance work. RMV® performs faster and more accurate maintenance, reducing the amount of equipment and labor needed, conserving material and money, and keeping road workers out of harm’s way. We made RMV possible with the help of the hard work of the team at PIS for the design and build, service and support, and continuous development.

 Through the development, we have received significant help from our strategic partners: