Abstract: Muck removal at the bottom of a tunnel is required before the steel arch erection in tunnel boring machine (TBM) construction. A new type of muck-removal robotic structure (MRRS) is developed to achieve intelligent and automated construction of open TBMs and highly-efficient muck cleaning. Further, the structure and working principle of MRRS is explained; kinematic analysis and workspace calculation are conducted on the bucket arm of the MRRS, and a hybrid trajectory planning method is designed based on polynomial interpolation and trapezoidal curve. The simulation analysis results show that the design parameters of the new type of MRRS are reasonable and the workspace can satisfy the construction and operation requirements, which is an effective solution for muck removal at the bottom of the tunnel during open TBM construction.

Key words: tunnel boring machine, muck-removal robot, structural design, kinematic analysis, trajectory planning