About

For decades, revetment work along the Mississippi River has played a critical role in preventing erosion and protecting levee systems. One of the primary methods used is mat sinking, a process where large, interlocking concrete mats are positioned and lowered along riverbanks to stabilize soil and manage water flow.

Historically, mat sinking has been a labor-intensive operation. Crews working from barges manually handled, positioned, and interlocked heavy concrete mats before sinking them at precise locations along the river. While effective, the process required significant manpower and exposed crews to physically demanding and potentially hazardous conditions.

In 2023, a collaboration between the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC), Carnegie Mellon University, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set out to modernize this process. Their goal was to reduce reliance on manual labor by introducing robotics and advanced control systems into traditional mat sinking operations.

The Problem

The team developed Armour 1, a next-generation mat sinking system that combined a conventional barge loaded with concrete mats with robotic gantry cranes and automated handling equipment. While the mechanical and robotic concepts were well defined, the project required a significant number of custom industrial control panels to reliably operate the robotic systems in a harsh, river-based environment.

The panels needed to:

  • Control gantry cranes and robotic handling systems on the barge
  • Support precise, repeatable mat placement operations
  • Meet industrial standards for continuous, harsh-environment operation
  • Align panel production with an evolving prototype and deployment timeline

With panel designs already developed, the project team needed a trusted manufacturing partner that could build to specification, maintain quality, and scale production as required.

The Solution

Working through an established electrical distribution partner, the project team turned to PanelShop.com, Premier Automation’s UL 508A-certified panel manufacturing group, to produce the required control panels.

PanelShop.com received the customer-designed panel drawings and specifications and worked closely with the distributor to manufacture a few dozen custom control panels over the course of several months. These panels were built to support critical functions of the Armour 1 system, including control of gantry cranes and other robotic subsystems on the mat sinking barge.

PanelShop.com’s role focused on:

  • Accurate build-to-print panel manufacturing
  • Consistent quality across multiple panel builds
  • Timely delivery to support system integration and testing
  • Seamless coordination with the electrical distributor and end user

Once completed, the panels were delivered through the distribution channel and integrated into the Armour 1 system by the project team.

The Results

The control panels manufactured by PanelShop.com became a foundational component of the Armour 1 robotic mat sinking system, enabling automated handling and placement of concrete mats along the Mississippi River.

By supporting the transition from manual labor to robotic operations, the system helped:

  • Reduce the physical demands placed on crews
  • Improve consistency and accuracy in mat placement
  • Increase efficiency and throughput of revetment projects
  • Demonstrate a scalable path toward modernization of river infrastructure work

This project highlights PanelShop.com’s ability to support advanced, first-of-their-kind systems by delivering reliable, industrial-grade control panels — even when designs originate from highly specialized research and engineering teams.