The
first article I read outside of Access Science during my search on
robotics was title “European Research Team Develops Intelligent Robot
Swarm”. This article focused on the designs of a research team
commissioned by NASA to develop robots for the construction of a base on
the Moon. This robots would work in a swarm consisting of 50+ robots,
each with varying capabilities and body types. The swarm would work like
a hive mind with all the individual robots communicating and working
with one another to perform all tasks necessary for construction. The
swarm can provide itself with site information using aerial photographs
from flying robots. The swarm would also contain bots capable of
transporting less mobile bots over tough terrain. The diverse groups of
robots would allow the swarm to accomplish many different construction
tasks and their programming and communication abilities allows them to
work together to solve issues.
The
second article, titled “Robot Collective Construction by Blind
Bulldozing”, was very related to the first. This too discussed
construction performed by a group robots, but focused more on the
interactions the bots would have. The research team that wrote this
paper studied the behaviors of insects during construction, such as ant
building a nest. They then mimic this behavior through robots and
programming to determine how successful this approach would be. They
found that they could give the robots the same instincts the ants had
which is to perform work based on the state of the construction zone.
This robot swarm idea seems very interesting, it's weird to think about one day a whole construction site with no people on it but just automated robots working on their own or being supervised by people back the general contractor's office. One on hand this will make sites much safer and efficient. This can be very practical in areas such as the arctic, deep sea, and other remote areas where is it difficult for people to go. But on the other hand I feel if that were to happen it would also kill construction labor jobs.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the main problem with the development of these robot swarms would be the loss of jobs. If robots could replace most factory or construction workers, the amount of people that need to find a new profession would be huge. Granted, the technology might slowly be introduced allowing the workers time to move on to a new profession, but it still wouldn't be an ideal situation. Another problem I see with the swarms is how the project managers or engineers of construction projects would handle it. Would most project managers be required to hold degrees in a computer based field?
ReplyDeleteThe loss of jobs was the very first thing I thought of when I considered swarms of robots actually being used to build. This technology would certainly cause a dramatic change in the construction industry and its tough to weigh the potential benefits of robots against the loss of jobs but I'm sure the same issue arose with automated assembly lines at auto manufacturers and in other industries.
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