许多人试图将工厂基础机器人的精确精度和一致性调整到建筑工地和工作区域，但总会有妥协和问题。一些机器人和技术人员可能会对这些看似无尽的挫折感到沮丧，但阿里·阿斯马里（Ali Asmari）喜欢挑战。

“What I am really passionate about is bringing the capability of robotics from a controlled environment to a real environment,” he says. This goal has been a driving force behind Asmari’s work at ULC Technologies, where he spearheaded an effort to build an autonomous robot that can scan and locate utilities beneath roadways, then excavate, repair and re-bury them with minimal human input.

这项工作的结果是机器人道路工程和挖掘系统或RRES，该系统于去年与英国的Gas Utility SGN进行了成功的试验。RRES在电池供电的平台上有一个完全铰接的机器人手臂，可以在铺好的道路下进行燃气管线维修，只有几个技术人员在经过必要的步骤时一直注视它。RIRS通过仅有一条交通中断的单车道，通过钥匙孔切割，凝结了通常会吸引一小群工人的操作。

SGN项目负责人Ollie Machan说：“我们正在谈论的是要花费三到四天的事情，而只是花了三到四个小时。”“特别是在伦敦和其他都会区，完成工作可能是一个很大的好处。”

应对建筑工地和道路维修的坚固条件并不是Asmari的最初职业目标。阿斯马里（Asmari）最初来自伊朗，于2010年来到美国进行机器人技术研究生研究。博士学位后关于计算机视觉和AI的论文，Asmari在2018年登陆ULC之前曾在几家机器人公司工作。他说，他被建造机器人所面临的挑战所吸引，这些机器人可以定向自己并在混乱的环境中工作。“设计和测试实验室中的所有内容都很有趣，但是一旦您部署到现场，这就是工作的50％。”

While he expected some resistance from construction and utilities to high-tech approaches like RRES, Asmari says the industry seems ready for a revolution in how it does things. “There have been many instances where I demonstrate this equipment, these new technologies [to utilities and contractors], and those folks see it as a no-brainer,” he says. Cost is always an issue with sophisticated robots, but many in the industry see the safety benefits of taking an equipment operator out of a cab or construction workers out of a muddy trench. “I personally think the rollout of autonomous solutions is not an overnight thing,” says Asmari. “There will be challenges and failures. But we learn from every step of development.”

自去年成功试验以来，RRES继续在美国和欧洲的公用事业中找到粉丝。此后，阿斯马里（Asmari）升任ULC Technologies自动化总监，并正在更广泛地研究自动化如何改善基础设施的构建和维护。