Sandian’s Rapid Road Repair Vehicle Would Fix Potholes on the Fly

News release discussing a newly patented product developed by Leo Mara of Sandia National Laboratories. Mara has developed the Rapid Road Repair Vehicle (about the size of a Greyhound bus) which would be able to “see” the road surface from scanners located on the front bumper. Any anomalies would be cleaned with high-pressure air and then vacuumed. On-board image processing would distinguish the location and size of road surface features and determine if an object is a hole, bump, manhole cover, or crack. Next, a phalanx of nozzles would pass over and deliver filling material. The mixture would be tamped into place, dusted with grit to provide traction, and vacuumed. Lastly, another row of scanners would check the quality of the repair. The automated system would require a single operator as opposed to a whole crew. This would lessen the number of workers out on the street being exposed to traffic dangers and drivers would not be slowed down as much around repair activities.