Robots have become indispensable in industry. Meanwhile, there are also those who can dowel and plaster. But a construction site is different from a factory building.
A construction site looks more like the natural terrain of people with hard hats and high-visibility vests, less like a field for free-roaming robots that drill, dowel and plaster. On large construction sites in particular, craftsmen could get more technical support in the future: several companies are developing construction robots with special skills. This should relieve the flesh and blood colleagues – and make the jobs more attractive.
“With this robot, our customers can minimize physically demanding work,” announced Matthias Schneider, Managing Director of Digitization at the Fischer Group from the Black Forest town of Waldachtal, at the presentation of the “Baubot”. He can drill, clean the drill holes and set dowels – even in ceilings five meters high. And more precisely than a human could.
The Hilti company from Kaufering in Upper Bavaria also has a semi-autonomous drilling robot. The Augsburg robot builder Kuka, on the other hand, has developed examples that have produced a fiber composite element from carbon and glass fibers in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, printed 3D facades for a construction company from Belgium or milled and glued wooden panels.
Technology still in its infancy
“In general, it can be said that automation using robots in the construction sector is still in its infancy,” says Alois Buchstab, construction robotics expert at Kuka. So Fischer only sends three “Baubots” to projects in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands before the whole thing is to be expanded.
“The construction industry is only rethinking things because of a shortage of skilled workers, cost pressure or increasing demands in terms of sustainability,” explains Buchstab. “In addition, digitization is making applications increasingly possible.” Robots have become indispensable in industrial production. “However, use on the construction site represents a completely different challenge when it comes to automation,” explains the specialist. “These include outdoor conditions with changeable weather, lack of electricity and the like, safety precautions, operability, just to name a few.”
The German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) makes a similar statement: “Manual activities in the skilled trades cannot simply be replaced by automation solutions or the use of robots – as is often the case in industry.” If services and products are individually tailored to the customer, manual production and execution are still indispensable, “because people are much more adaptable and can adapt to local conditions much better than machines can”.
Only interesting for larger projects
The general manager of the Baden-Württemberg construction industry, Thomas Möller, makes a difference in the size of the company. A small company with five employees does not need robots. “Then it’s not backwards,” emphasized Müller. You simply don’t need a robot to build a single-family home. On the other hand, technological progress is urgently needed for larger companies and construction sites: “We have to come out of our slumber.” Fischer expert Schneider also named a long tunnel as an example of a “Baubot” operation: Thousands of dowels would have to be set.
Among other things, Möller refers to cable robots that are stretched over the construction site like a spider’s web and are intended to help with the transport and setting of bricks. “These are all experiments,” says the general manager. This urgently needs to move forward.
He can also follow the argument that construction robots make work safer. This was shown after the flood in the Ahr valley: “It’s safer if you can stand 20 meters from the edge where the machine is working.” Hopefully, the development will also help in the search for young people: “We will only be able to win people over if we tell them that the job is no longer so physically demanding, you can do it with your cell phone,” said Möller.
Do not refill savings
The Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt trade union basically thinks: “Mechanization and digitization can contribute to relief or to more health protection. However, the work saved must not be eaten up again by another increase in performance or work intensification.” So-called exo-skeletons, for example, are good aids with heavy loads. However, these types of “pulling-on robots” that mechanically amplify muscle strength should not result in even heavier weights being carried.
The ZDH cites sensors for rain gutters as other examples, so that the craft business is always informed about the current status of the installed waste water system. Roofers, on the other hand, could protect their health if a drone inspects the roof and nobody has to climb up for it. “Against the background of demographic change, longer working lives and the increasingly difficult need for skilled workers to meet, it is also in the interest of craft businesses that their employees stay fit and healthy for as long as possible.”
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
