Patent ID: 8684333

Claim:
A boom mountable robotic arm for temporarily supporting an elongate conductor comprising: a beam pivotally mounted on a boom mounting adaptor, said boom mounting adaptor mountable onto an upper end of a boom, at least two electrically insulated support posts mounted to and spaced apart along said beam, at least a first rotation coupling and second rotation couplings, wherein said first rotation coupling provides said pivotal mounting of said beam on said boom mounting adaptor so as to provide selectively controllable rotation of said beam about a first axis of rotation, wherein said first axis of rotation extends laterally of and between said beam and an upper end of said boom mounting adaptor for rotation of said beam relative to said boom mounting adaptor in a substantially vertical plane, and wherein said second rotation couplings provide selectively controllable rotation of said at least two electrically insulated support posts about corresponding second axes of rotation, and wherein said second axes of rotation include axes of rotation extending substantially laterally across said beam at base ends of said support posts for rotation of each said support post relative to and substantially along said beam, whereby positions of said support posts are selectively adjustable between a retracted position substantially laid flush along said beam and a pick-up position ready to receive a conductor being supported, and wherein each post of said at least two electrically insulated support posts is adapted to temporarily support an energized electrical conductor, and wherein a selectively actuable first actuator is mounted so as to cooperate between, said beam and a scissor linkage mounted to said beam and said boom mounting adaptor for selectively adjusting an angular position of said beam relative to said boom mounting adaptor wherein said scissor linkage includes first and second linear members, each said first and second linkage members having, respectively, opposite first and second ends, said first ends of said first and second linkage members pivotally connected to one another, said second ends of said first and second linkage members pivotally mounted to, respectively, said beam and said boom mounting adaptor, said first actuator pivotally mounted at a first end thereof to said first ends of said first and second linkage members, and a second end of said first actuator, opposite said first end of said first actuator, mounted to said beam.