After two years of real-world testing to prove its safety credentials, a truck which automatically deploys traffic cones has been launched in Melbourne, Australia
The truck’s inventor, Arrowes, joined with key stakeholders, including the Victorian Government and major infrastructure construction companies, to launch the truck at Holmesglen Institute’s Victorian Tunnelling Centre which is training road construction workers to operate the new truck.
Arrowes Chief Executive Lea Ea says it will save lives.
“The Automated Cone Truck (ACT) is a game changer with a lot of ‘smarts’ and mechatronics that automatically places and retrieves traffic cones to ensure workers are not exposed to the risk of traffic.
“The ACT will revolutionise the industry and is set to become the new norm for safe and efficient cone deployment and retrieval both in Australia and internationally. It will rewrite health and safety and operation standards around roading worksites and mean that workers return home safely every day to their family and friends.’’
Road construction and maintenance workers are among the most likely to be involved in a workplace incident in Australia. Research by Safe Work Australia found 63 per cent of fatalities on worksites were caused by being hit by moving vehicles.
The Automated Cone Truck, which is 100 per cent designed and manufactured in Australia, has already been recognised for its innovation, named as a finalist in a Major Transport Infrastructure Authority infrastructure safety technology award, after being nominated by Major Road Projects Victoria.
The prototype truck was unveiled to the industry in October 2020, followed by two years of intensive trials on various projects, including the M80 Ring Road upgrade in Melbourne. The feedback from the trials has now been incorporated into the commercial design which has now been released.
“The innovation meets a global need and application,” Ea says.
Several years ago, Arrowes employed a small group of young engineering graduates from the Queensland University of Technology and University of Queensland to work alongside Arrowes senior engineers on automating the placement of traffic cones to reduce risks associated with placement and retrieval of cones, to make it much more safer and efficient.
The ACT can deploy one cone per five seconds and can be placed at 3-24m spacing. For example, when deployed with 12m cone spacing, the ACT can deploy cones at 8km/hr or at 24m spacing at 16km/h.
The ACT can also retrieve cones from both sides of the vehicle while driving forward or reversing. With a capacity of 400 cones, the ACT is equipped to close over 9km of highway without stopping. This is over twice the capacity of most conventional cone trucks.
“The goal of the ACT is to improve safety and in doing so, naturally it will also improve productivity. One kilometre of lane closure takes the ACT around seven minutes – and it does this without exposing traffic workers to hazards,’’ Ea says.
Fulton Hogan, one of the largest infrastructure construction roadworks supplier companies with 8000 workers in 100 locations worldwide, endorsed the ACT, as has Doug Talbott, Project Director of international engineering and construction company Laing O’Rourke.
