Tunnel Segment Auto-Hoisting Robot Debuts from CRCHI for Shield Tunnel Transport

November 14,2026

Segment auto-hoisting robot

In shield tunnel construction, segment transfer and feeding is a key process that ensures continuous boring progress.

The traditional mode relies on manual command of cranes to complete segment grabbing, transfer and feeding. The narrow space inside the tunnel requires on-site personnel for lifting alignment and close-range hooking and unloading; manual alignment is affected by subjective experience, making segments prone to collision damage, and in-tunnel lifting also carries significant safety hazards, constraining the unmanned progress of shield construction.

Targeting the pain points of tunnel segment transfer, CRCHI launched the segment auto-hoisting robot. As the core equipment of the shield segment automated conveying chain, it integrates electric-control drive, visual perception, motion control and multi-layer safety protection modules, and uses walking, rotation and rope retracting/extending mechanisms to achieve high-precision pose adjustment, enabling a closed-loop operation from picking up material from the transport vehicle, spatial transfer, attitude adjustment to automatic feeding into the segment feeder — replacing high-risk manual grabbing and hoisting inside the tunnel, ensuring continuous and orderly segment supply, and reducing component collision damage.

Segment auto-hoisting

Four core capabilities enable unmanned intelligent transport inside the tunnel.

Visual autonomous recognition and pose solving

Equipped with a machine vision module, it automatically recognizes the actual placement position and spatial pose of segments, solves the 3D pose in real time, and autonomously completes alignment and angle fine-tuning — no manual marking or alignment guidance needed.

High-precision closed-loop automatic control

With multi-joint coordinated control combined with a dynamics model, it generates smooth motion trajectories based on the visually solved segment pose, performing closed-loop control of walking, lifting, slewing and attitude adjustment to achieve stable segment transfer. It supports signal interaction and linkage with the shield main control system, receiving operation commands to autonomously plan motion paths, intelligently adjust speed and softly start/stop, achieving millimeter-level positioning control within the tunnel space and ensuring continuous, stable lifting actions without segment collision damage.

Multi-dimensional safety protection

It integrates overload protection, multi-level limit protection, eccentric load protection, sling status monitoring, fall protection and multiple emergency-stop interlocks. When abnormal conditions occur, it automatically decelerates and stops, building a strong safety line for lifting operations in the confined tunnel space.

Full-process digital operation management

The host computer intuitively displays each joint action of the crane and equipment alarm information, supporting operation data collection, fault diagnosis and operation process data storage, providing data support for digital management of tunnel construction sites.

The whole robot completes the autonomous operation of the full process of picking up, transferring, adjusting attitude and unloading, reducing personnel's close-range involvement in lifting danger zones while balancing segment transfer efficiency and component integrity.

Currently, the segment auto-hoisting robot has been deployed in domestic and overseas projects such as the Beijing Metro Line 1 branch and the Messina-Catania high-speed railway in Italy, successfully achieving automated segment hoisting and providing a mature equipment solution for unmanned construction of material transfer inside shield tunnels.

Segment auto-hoisting

From manually commanded crane hoisting to the robot's autonomous transfer and feeding inside the tunnel, the segment auto-hoisting robot fills a key link in the automated conveying of shield construction, injecting new momentum into the intelligent construction of tunnels at home and abroad.

Source : www.51cm.org

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