Autonomous vehicles, or vehicles that do not require a human for operation, have become more prevalent in the last couple of years in the construction industry, doing jobs that were once performed by humans at an increased rate. Simultaneously alongside the advancement of construction robotics is the uprising of controversy against the machine – an industry that does not view them as an aid, but rather as a threat. ZBRELLA Tech is taking a look at how autonomous construction robots are evolving onsite. But the question is, do you agree with their implementation? Or do you think it means trouble?
Why Automate?
Numerous amounts of construction professionals often wonder why there is such a great push towards autonomy. The reality is this: owner’s want their sites to be as efficient as possible and their projects to be completed quickly. Translation: they want to make as big a profit as possible. While lack in efficiency in many cases is due to poor-performance employees onsite, there are other factors at work in the construction industry.
For instance, just this past August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that contractors had 143,000 unfilled construction positions this June (2015). The recession cut over 2.3 million jobs between 2006 and 2011, and the construction industry was slow to hire again. Ken Simonson, chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America, said that, “A late pickup in hiring…greatly diminished [a large] pool of workers,” causing long time industry workers to move to other professions. Now, the industry is facing over a 20% decline in skilled laborers (despite the fact that employment is now on the rise), in conjunction with an aging industry that is finding it difficult to hire young, skilled professionals.
Other reasons why autonomous vehicles are becoming more favored in the industry are these:
- They eliminate productivity loss
- Increase production
- Increase vehicle usage
- Decrease fuel usage
- Give consistent performance
- Increase worker safety
Autonomous Vehicles Onsite
With a need and want for automation, technology has taken no time in dreaming up the tech of tomorrow for the construction industry. There are many autonomous vehicles that are already out working onsite, and many more that are still in the testing phase. Currently, these are some of the companies that are leading the industry in technological innovation:
Komatsu, Ltd. – Tokyo, Japan
The Tokyo based company is a huge leader in autonomous equipment and vehicles for construction. In 2008, the company released its first automatic driving system programed to large mining dump trucks, allowing the vehicles to operate with complete autonomy along a predetermined route. Using obstacle detecting sensors, high precision GPS, and other sophisticated technologies, Komatsu successfully implemented small fleets of their machinery throughout the world. Their projects include both Codelco in Chile in 2008 and Rio Tinto in Australia.
Komatsu’s bulldozer excavators also hit the field in 2013 and 2014 with autonomous features. The machines are able to level the ground and excavate on their own. More recently in 2015, the company implemented autonomous drones onsite with other autonomous equipment to improve safety and productivity. The company plans to go even further and continues to work on fully autonomous equipment in an effort to lower costs onsite.
In-Situ Autonomous Robot
Although this next autonomous object is a mash up between both bot and vehicle, it still uses similar technology like that of Komatsu. The In-Situ Fabricator, a robot engineered specifically for the construction site, has the ability to adapt to changes onsite. Designed by the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) at the Digital Fabrication laboratory, this brick laying robot can move around onsite unaided. IF is also equipped with sensors and cameras that allow it to move about without the danger of hitting objects or people. The sensors and cameras allow the robot to precisely measure both its orientation and distance through its inertial measurement movement (IMU) so that it can move safely onsite.
And, because In-Situ’s technology was built to be linked to the CAD system, the bot can go onto the construction site and build non-standard designs in complete autonomy.
Volvo Construction Equipment – Brussels, Belgium
By teaming up with universities throughout the world, like Örebro University (Sweden) and the University of Kaiserslautern (Germany), Volvo created an autonomous wheel loader that can perform simple tasks. The vehicle can do basic digging and loading onsite, but the team still has improvements to make on the equipment before it can hit the market. Volvo is hoping that the autonomous vehicle will increase safety, decrease emissions, and improve efficiency.
Royal Truck & Equipment – Pennsylvania, USA
This smaller company from the United States made a big splash last year with their automated TMA (truck mounted attenuator) truck. By outfitting the truck with an electro-mechanical system and a fully integrated sensor suite, which enables what they call a Leader/Follower capability, the ATMA truck follows the “lead” vehicle that would typically drive in front of a regular TMA truck.
Royal Truck & Equipment, Inc. implemented their technology onsite successfully in their testing process. The company says that the ATMA truck can be used for anything from line painting, bridge inspection, black top operations, sign removal, traffic light repairs, or anytime a worker is exposed to hazardous traffic conditions.
What Do You Think?
The examples above are just a few companies who we’ve mentioned, but there are many other big name companies out there looking to make autonomous vehicles a mainstream thing, like giants Hitachi and Caterpillar. But now that we’ve heard about autonomous vehicles’ benefits, their capabilities, and how they’re already being used, we want to hear from the industry.
How do you view this technology trend? Do you think it will take on speed? Do you think it will flop? Is it taking jobs away from hard workers? Let us know, we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Leave a Reply