# Episode 76: Robots on the railways - Andrew Starr

- Show: [Robot Talk](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk)
- Published: 2024-03-08
- Length: 34m
- Episode: 76
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2024-03-08-episode-76-robots-on-the-railways-andrew-starr
- Listen: https://ukrobotics.libsyn.com/episode-seventy-six-andrew-starr

## Summary

Andrew Starr, Professor of Maintenance Systems at Cranfield University, discusses the application of robotics in industrial maintenance and railway inspection. He details his early work at Ford monitoring car assembly robots for positioning errors and component degradation, highlighting the limitations of pure data-driven AI in predicting physical failures like corrosion. Starr then describes the development of autonomous railway inspection robots, from small-scale Arduino models to a full-sized Clearpath Warthog UGV and a retrofitted proprietary track trolley, emphasizing the challenges of GPS denial in tunnels and the necessity of data fusion.

## Chapters

- [0:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2024-03-08-episode-76-robots-on-the-railways-andrew-starr#t=8) Introduction and Overview of Industrial Robotics
- [4:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2024-03-08-episode-76-robots-on-the-railways-andrew-starr#t=268) Monitoring Robots on Car Assembly Lines at Ford
- [10:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2024-03-08-episode-76-robots-on-the-railways-andrew-starr#t=631) Predictive Maintenance and the Limits of AI
- [17:59](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2024-03-08-episode-76-robots-on-the-railways-andrew-starr#t=1079) Developing Autonomous Railway Inspection Robots
- [28:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2024-03-08-episode-76-robots-on-the-railways-andrew-starr#t=1708) Testing on Heritage Railways and Operational Challenges

## Topics

- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Sensors & measurement in products](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sensors)

## Most relevant to

established companies

## Mentioned

- Cranfield University (company)
- Ford (company)
- Network Rail (company)
- Clearpath Warthog (product)
- Arduino (chip)
- LIDAR (tool)
- RTK (tool)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [An Interview with Chris Osterwood](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2019-01-14-an-interview-with-chris-osterwood) (The Amp Hour)
- [196. Saving America’s Collapsing Infrastructure](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2024-10-15-196-saving-americas-collapsing-infrastructure) (The Next Byte Podcast)
- [Transforming Asset Management with Physical AI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2026-04-10-transforming-asset-management-with-physical-ai) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [An Interview with Gerry Roston](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2017-02-04-an-interview-with-gerry-roston) (The Amp Hour)
- [181: Leadership and Ethics in the Adoption of Robotics with Ryan Gariepy, CTO of Clearpath Robotics & OTTO Motors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2024-04-16-181-leadership-and-ethics-in-the-adoption-of-robotics-with-ryan-gariepy-cto-of-c) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2024-03-08-episode-76-robots-on-the-railways-andrew-starr. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Robot Talk.