NZ620049A - Boom mountable robotic arm - Google Patents

Abstract

A boom mountable robotic arm for temporarily supporting an elongate conductor comprising: a single elongate unitary beam (28) adapted for coupling with an upper end of a boom, at least two electrically insulated support posts (132, 134, 136) coupled to and spaced apart along the beam, each post of the at least two electrically insulated support posts adapted for temporarily supporting an energized elongate electrical conductor, and at least first and second rotation couplings. The first rotation coupling provides selectively controllable rotation of the beam about a first axis of rotation extending laterally of and between the beam and the upper end of the boom for rotation of the beam relative to the boom in a substantially vertical plane. The second rotation coupling provides selectively controllable rotation of at least one of the at least two electrically insulated support posts about a second axis of rotation extending along a longitudinal axis of the beam, for rotation of the at least one electrically insulated support post relative to and substantially laterally of the beam. A boom adaptor (26) is mountable to the upper end of the boom. The beam is part of an elongate upper beam assembly rotatably mounted to the boom adaptor for rotation of the beam about the first axis of rotation relative to the boom adaptor. The beam supports the at least two electrically insulated support posts and has a conductor retainer (144) mounted at an end distal from the beam. The first rotation coupling includes a selectively actuable leveling adjustor (32) mounted between the beam and the boom adaptor for selectively adjusting an angular position of the beam relative to the boom adaptor.