Problem Solved- John Deere UV-SPTM

Often a customer comes to me with a problem they need help solving.

I will often accept the challenge and set to work solving it. My technique is very organic. I will roll the problem around in my head for a few days, concept sketching, thumbnailing and often breaking the problem down into smaller bite-sized pieces. Before long, I am in the shop -mocking up a prototype.

One such customer was John Deere in Mannheim Germany. This factory builds tractors. The factory needed a way to check for leaks in the engine after assembly. My job was to build a Robotic Platform to find the leaks without putting people in harm’s way. The solution was to use a UV fluorescent coolant and a UV sensitive camera on a remote-controlled crawler.

After several versions, I came up with the unit pictured above. Based on the SPTM, it features a UV Sensitive Go Pro in a Waterproof housing, surrounded by two UV Lamps mounted to a Heavy-Duty Pan Tilt mechanism. Of course, everything had to be IP67 and watertight to prevent the dripping coolant from entering the bot.

As requested by the customer, this Industrial Inspection Robot did not have a video transmitter, instead, since the operator was within 60 feet of the Go Pro Camera, they wanted a phone mount for the RC Radio controller. The operator would use the Go Pro app to transmit the video feed from the camera to the customer’s phone. This way they would have a lightweight and rapid assessment system.