Robots have been around for
many years with the purpose of completing tasks in almost every discipline,
including housekeeping, space exploration, delivery services,
medicine, care-taking, etc. Most recently, robots have been
introduced to the construction industry with the purpose of making the
construction process more efficient, as well as proving safety. I chose to do a
research paper to study these robots and see what their impact is the industry
as well as the impact they might have in the future.
Powered machines have been
around since the industrial revolution, facilitating tasks of construction
workers. Nowadays, new technologies are allowing for these machines to run
without a human operator. Its purpose is not to eliminate all man power from
construction sites, but to decrease the construction time of a building,
allowing for a better efficiency and cost. For instance, robot SAM
(Semi-Automated Mason), built by Construction Robotics, is a brick laying robot,
which made his debut in the construction world in 2015. SAM needs a crew of
three, including a mason and a tender, in order to apply mortar to the brick,
setting it and moving along a face predetermined by a laser. Although the robot
is not able to operate on its own, with the help of its crew, it is capable of
laying a brick every 20 to 25 seconds. Scott Peters, cofounder of Construction
Robotics says that SAM’s purpose is to leverage human’s jobs, not replace them,
where a mason can lay 300-500 bricks per day, while SAM can lay about 800-1,200
bricks per day. This will not only decrease construction time in the field, but
it will also decrease construction errors. A door opening designed to be
located a certain distance from the corner of the building may not be exactly
be placed there in reality. Robots have been designed to perfectly built by the
use of sensors and coding.
In the future, with the
combination of 3D printers and robotic fabrication, buildings could be
constructed faster, saving money. Led by BIM, these models will be able to
mold, assemble, weld, polish the metallic structure. This will allow to design
for more complex-shaped structures easier. This is an idea that is been looking
into, yet not elaborated. This may come as a challenge to developers of these
great robotic ideas since their main purpose is to reducing cost and
time, yet they may not be accounting for the numerous amounts of jobs robots
might take over.
Sources:
Comments:
Sam Joyce Comment
Maq Alqallaf Comment
Maria,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that robots such as SAM are used in the construction industry at present and it is not only saving time but also reducing construction costs. With the development of such machines, the future holds more prospects of extensive use of robots in the construction industry which will be more powerful, efficient and capable of doing complicated tasks. However, this can have major socioeconomic impact on the society since it is replacing jobs of construction workers hence creating a vacuum in the job market which in turn may have a negative impact on the economy. Therefore it is important to factor in such impacts due to advancement of technology and to find the balance so that the impact is minimized.
Robotics in construction is a growing field that is becoming more and more important to the construction process. There are so many different technologies and robots that can be used to aid laborers and decrease construction time. I liked that you are planning on talking about many different types of robots rather than focusing on one specific type because it gives a much broader sense of what robots are capable of nowadays. Each robot is designed for a different task so it will be interesting to see in the future if they will start making robots that are able to do a wider range of jobs.
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