SBB tests a robot for the Gotthard Base Tunnel

The Gotthard Base Tunnel has turned ten, and its maintenance now requires a growing logistical effort. Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) is testing a robot meant to make these operations easier, in a project carried out together with ETH Zurich. The goal is to improve the safety and efficiency of maintenance work inside the tunnel.

The tests are taking place at the maintenance and intervention centre in Biasca, in the Bellinzona region, where the environment inside the tunnel has been recreated. Alberto Bombelli, the project's head, explains that the tunnel environment poses particular challenges: even a simple task such as opening a technical cabinet can require travelling up to 30 kilometres from the portal. Staff are also subject to regular medical checks, since they must be able to work in high-heat conditions.

The robot does not operate autonomously: it is guided remotely by an operator who moves it through the tunnel's rooms and corridors. The planned tasks are basic operations, such as raising and lowering valves or opening cabinets. According to Bombelli, the main function is to let the remote operator see exactly what is inside a cabinet, in order to fix a fault directly and precisely.

The challenge of manipulation

Tasks that are straightforward for a person turn out to be complex for a machine. Vaishakh Patil, an expert in robotic systems at ETH Zurich, notes that manipulation remains the hardest challenge for robotics applied to this kind of environment. A human interacts naturally with different objects, while a robot must recognise each time what kind of handle or lever it is facing and adjust its movement to grip it correctly.

The project is still in an experimental phase, and no cost estimates exist yet. Bombelli says that, since this is a nationally critical piece of infrastructure, real-world application in the Gotthard tunnel will come later than in other industries. The timeframes mentioned for actual use range from five to ten years.