ARM Hub: ProTx Arresta100 Road Safety Launch Day with Ventia

ARM Hub-backed road safety barrier launches in Australia

Arresta100 enters commercial service with Ventia after four years of development

A road safety barrier developed with the support of ARM Hub, Australia's advanced robotics and manufacturing centre, launched to market today at a live demonstration event in Brisbane.

ProTx, the Queensland company behind the product, unveiled the Arresta100 to an industry audience that included road authorities, infrastructure operators, and government representatives. Ventia, one of Australia's largest infrastructure services companies, confirmed its position as the first commercial customer, with two units already committed to its road operations fleet.

The problem

Until now, road crews working in live traffic had two options for protection. The first is a static concrete crash barrier: effective, but slow to deploy and impractical for temporary worksites. The second is a truck-mounted attenuator: a dedicated vehicle with a road worker inside, strapped into a five-point harness, watching a rear-view screen for an eight-hour shift, waiting for an impact that may or may not come.

That operator sits directly in the path of any vehicle that fails to slow or stop. It is one of the most stressful and physically demanding roles in road operations, and not always available or appropriate for regional and smaller sites.

Development

The Arresta100 is a seven-metre, two-tonne barrier trailer towed by a standard work ute and deployed in minutes. It requires no dedicated operator sitting in a crash zone. The attenuator driver is removed from the equation entirely.

ARM Hub worked with ProTx founder John Ferguson to move the Arresta100 from proven prototype to commercial-scale production, including assembly process design, facility layout, procurement and inventory systems, and robotic welding integration.

"Arresta is a world-first vehicle arrestor, designed and built in Queensland to protect the workers who maintain our roads. Nationally, there are around 18 fatal crashes and 245 serious injuries at roadside worksites every year. For regional crews, that risk is at least five times higher."- Professor Cori Stewart, CEO and Founder, ARM Hub

The barrier completed seven formal crash tests before reaching market, including impacts from a 2.2-tonne vehicle at 100 km/h.

Deployment

Ventia will deploy the first units on the Transurban Hogan Road and Tunnel network in South East Queensland, pending DTMR authority, with further deployments planned for Ramsey, Port of Brisbane, and airport sites.

Barry Smith, Ventia's Operations Manager for Road Operations Australia, said while there were many reasons for using the system, the best was also the simplest: removing a worker from the crash zone.

"The biggest part for us is the safety benefit. Our guys are going out there in their truck-mounted attenuators, and know that when everything goes wrong that they're in the front line every day . . . this particular method means that we remove that driver out of the crash zone completely."- Barry Smith, Operations Manager, Road Operations Australia, Ventia

Motorists travelling through the Hogan Road and Tunnel network may begin to see the Arresta100 roadside in coming months, a seven-metre barrier keeping road crews safe without putting another worker in harm's way.