The two articles I read are:
The assigned article form accessscience was generally too heavy and in detail for me but it explains different uses and the complexities behind each use with terms relating to them. The article describes various types of robots, how to control them, sensors to gather information and other specific topics.
In the first article I read the author gives examples of construction robots used for different purposes in the field or during the process of preparing materials for construction. There are examples like material handling of rolled fiberglass insulation which is made in a continuous stream, cut into smaller pieces based on customer's desire, and finally stretch-wrapped for shipping. Robots are used to produce other construction materials like board insulation, house wrap, foam pipe insulation. Besides those, robots are used in construction sites for tasks like laying bricks and concrete blocks or cutting and welding steel beams. Those applications decrease the manual work load as well as make it possible for a faster and more efficient construction.
The second article I read focuses on the issue of safety of construction workers. With the increasing amount of workplace deaths especially as a result of falls from raised structures work-place safety is a crucial problem. The research group mentioned in this article created an autonomous robot that is designed to climb scaffolding and buildings by wrapping around a beam and then moving up or down by an oscillating joint motion. The robots are planned to inspect the structures with built-in sensors and cameras. However, the group can control the robots from a laptop that is connected to the robot by wires but the next step is to figure out how to implement onboard microprocessors and power source on the robots. In this way it will make things easier to control the robot and reach more distances and difficult areas of a structure. And also companies will have to face less lawsuits, if the use of the robots can be commonplace...
The second article you mentioned regarding the workplace safety sounded very promising. On site injuries and death can account for millions of dollars should a user error or design error be the primary cause. These robots could help to eliminate a large amount of the costs from that and increase safety - especially in dangerous areas. For example, if a building was damaged from some natural disaster and a site visit was too dangerous, these robots could be used instead. I could definitely see these being used in rare cases like these. I would be curious to see how these are used in the every day construction field though.
ReplyDelete