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Bricklaying Robots and Exoskeletons Are the Future of the Construction Industry (vice.com)
David Silverberg reports via Motherboard: One of the most staid and digitally conservative industries is on the verge of a robotic makeover. The global construction space isn't known for ushering new tech into their workforce, but a painful labour shortage, calls for increased worker safety and more low-cost housing, and the need to catch up to other tech-savvy sectors is giving upstarts in robotics and exoskeletons their big moment. The construction industry isn't immune to this phenomenon, but robots and humans may increasingly work hand-in-hand in industrial sectors, according to Brian Turmail, senior executive director of public affairs at the Associated General Contractors of America. This is especially true when the construction industry en masse uses exoskeleton vests, which aim to assist workers with heavy loads and thus reduce their risk of injury.
The Hadrian X is a bricklaying robot courtesy Australia's Fastbrick Robotics, which uses its 30-meter metal arm to lay bricks at a rate of 1,000 bricks per hour, compared to a human worker's average of 1,000 a day. Due for release in late 2017, Hadrian X can read a 3D CAD model of the house and then it follows those instructions precisely, working day and night. New York-based Construction Robotics has also developed its take on a bricklaying robot. SAM can lay 3,000 bricks a day, and the company said it's about time this industry got a whiff of the change almost every other market has been seeing.
The Hadrian X is a bricklaying robot courtesy Australia's Fastbrick Robotics, which uses its 30-meter metal arm to lay bricks at a rate of 1,000 bricks per hour, compared to a human worker's average of 1,000 a day. Due for release in late 2017, Hadrian X can read a 3D CAD model of the house and then it follows those instructions precisely, working day and night. New York-based Construction Robotics has also developed its take on a bricklaying robot. SAM can lay 3,000 bricks a day, and the company said it's about time this industry got a whiff of the change almost every other market has been seeing.
There's no shortage of workers. There are lots of people around who'd be willing to do this work. It's a shortage of employers willing to pay the wage required to properly compensate people for doing the work. Pay a proper wage and this "labor shortage" will disappear immediately.
It's not just Canada...
In parts of the US West Coast, housing speculation has skyrocketed, hard. For instance, in Portland, OR and surrounding areas, a house that you couldn't get rid of for $200k during the housing bust of 2007-2010 (or so) will sell out in less than 48 hours now for $550k.
Even way out in the sticks where I live (a 75 to 90-minute commute from downtown Portland), I purchased a hidden gem of sorts (a 2 bdrm cabin on 6 acres) in an unincorporated area of Columbia County for $250k back in late 2015. Nowadays I routinely get pestered by real estate vultures wanting me to sell it for $350-$400k (the little house is very nice, but it's mostly for the land, which has 800' of riverfront, and has wilderness areas next door on two sides of the property). In a year, I bet they'll be sniffing around for $500-600k or so if the bubble holds up. Funny thing though, I bought the place to retire in, so, well, screw 'em. I'm staying put.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
I think it's important to differentiate between bricks (dark, historically clay-fired) and concrete blocks.
I don't think bricks are used for structural features anymore, but concrete block still is used for foundations and sometimes walls. The challenge for concrete block, though, is even in large scale construction where you would use them they already face competition from poured concrete and precast concrete panels. I think both are structurally sounder and allow rapid assembly of large buildings. Most new warehouses or industrial buildings made from concrete are built this way.
I live in an older neighborhood that's seen a fair amount of teardown new construction and the basement foundations are almost universally made from form-based poured concrete from what I've seen. In the types of construction where concrete block is still used, the scale often seems small -- a limited set of block courses before switching to wood or steel framing.
I'm not sure how much robotics works in this market.