It's been touted as a cross between a Tonka truck and a transformer but Birkdale's John Reeves says his road-fixing invention is not a toy and offers real solutions for local roads.
His invention, called RoadScout, was used to patch up major roads in Redland and around Brisbane after the floods in January 2011.
Mr Reeves and his son Bryan, also from Redlands, spent five years developing RoadScout at their company, Radar Portal Systems.
With some help from the state government's Main Roads department the father-son team devised a machine that roams and then scans the road, using a ground-penetrating radar to pinpoint problems in the bitumen.
The machine is essentially a ute with a large scanning device mounted on the back and Redlands was one of the first places in Australia to use it.
Mr Reeves said about $3million had been spent developing RoadScout, which is being used to automatically rate issues such as ruts and cracks, at fast speed and in detail.
He said he believed the invention would save the state government millions of dollars in road repair and maintenance bills for the state's 33,383km road network.
"A part of that maintenance is repairing the extensive damage caused by the natural disasters of 2010-2011 and RoadScout was one of the tools used to keep Queensland connected and make our roads safer," Mr Reeves said.
But it's RoadScout's speed which saves the day, according to Transport and Main Roads principal engineer Wayne Muller.
"RoadScout allows us to collect highly detailed data by looking about one metre deep into the road, so we can target problem areas quickly and choose the best solution to fix them," Mr Muller said.
"What makes RoadScout unique is that it can scan the full width of the road at speeds of up to 100 kilometres an hour, so it can collect large amounts of data quickly, without disturbing motorists.
"It means we can find and fix problems that may not be obvious on the surface, before they become a big problem."
Mr Muller said the world-leading technology came into its own after the flood and helped save taxpayer dollars being spent on road repairs.
He said it cost the state about $90,000 to assess 410km of road in Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley. "This is comparatively low when you consider traffic controllers and lane closures were not required, and the number of investigation trenches needed was reduced," he said.
RPS chief technology director Bryan Reeves, John's son, said the invention was a good example of a private company working with government.
"With Mr Muller's experience using ground-penetrating radars on bridges and roads, and my knowledge of designing this equipment, we put our heads together and realised what could be done," he said.
"The first version of RoadScout was developed between 2006 and 2008.
"It proved the technology worked and we've since gone on to further improve and add to its capabilities," Bryan said.
