Robotic total station (demonstration videos)

A total station is an electronic surveying instrument that measures distances and angles. It can be described as an electronic theodolite with an electronic distance meter integrated with a microprocessor and a data collector storage system. Modern total stations can be divided into manual and automatic total stations.

• Manual total stations. In manual total stations the user manually has to sight the target to the telescope, manually adjusts the horizontal and vertical screws in order to align the cross-head to the target and operates the equipment to store the data.
• Robotic total stations. Robotic total stations perform all those steps automatically. The telescope turns automatically. Besides, automatic aiming algorithms allows the robotic total station to automatically search the target (the prism), aim at the target and follow the target.

The main benefits of robotic total stations are:

• Faster surveying (more productivity)
• Remote operation (less persons)
• Avoid potential miscommunication between operator and target

There are 4 operation types of robotic total stations:

• Automatic target aiming. By pressing a button the equipment automatically searches and aims the prism, and collects the data
• Automatic target lock. Once the equipment defines a prism target, it locks and follows the target and collects the desired point
• Power search. It is a combination of the previous 2. The equipment searches the target and locks to it. Then, if it loses sight of the target due an obstruction, it again searches the target and locks to it. This type is very convenient for surveying areas with interruptions due to infrastructure.
• Imaging. The image observed by the equipment is displayed in an external screen.

The video shows a visual explanation of thefour types of operation options (link to video)