Rbot: development of a robot-driven radio base station maintenance system

This work describes the development of RBOT, a robot-driven radio base station maintenance system. RBS deployment and maintenance tasks are increasing both in complexity and density with the introduction of 5G microcells. The main objective behind our application is to reduce maintenance costs by developing an integrated system based on a robotic arm to operate on the RBS front plane. This work details the challenges and solutions for maintaining the connectivity of networking cables in such an environment. More specifically, it discusses the problems of inserting communication cables and removing defective ones attached to an RBS equipment. We also examine the creation and evolution of a maintenance system from a simulation scenario to a real-world setup. RBOT’s interface allows both remote teleoperation and autonomous operation. It also contains Augmented Reality features providing a first-person view for remote teleoperation to increase environmental awareness. Furthermore, by applying convolutional neural networks for faulty cable classification, RBOT can actuate over the RBS and manipulate the cables with a unique, accurate, and robust gripper we specially designed for cable connector handling.