How Robots Are Helping Construction Firms Cut Costs
Construction firms are frequently looking for ways to simplify and enhance the construction of buildings be they large apartment buildings or simple homes. In this category, one of the machine types that are becoming more prevalent is robots. These machines have the advantage of being fully autonomous and can cut any job down due to the speed robots bring. Let’s look into some of the most useful robots that are helping construction firms cut costs and improve the overall quality of work.
1. Glazing Robots
The robots that get frequently utilized in construction can be rather simple in the actions they do yet their helpfulness still remains highly impactful. One such group of robots are glazing robots.
As the name says, glazing robots allow construction teams to glaze items remotely. This is exceptionally important for situations where glazing in this manner could prove dangerous for the worker. These situations usually don’t allow for scaffolding or cranes to be used. A construction team can find itself in these situations if the surroundings are difficult to work with or too high up for available equipment.
The glazing robot itself is equipped with a powerful hydraulically powered robot arm that can extend while maintaining the immense power that will hold the items it lifts in place. It also possesses 360 degrees manually rotating head that allows it to accurately position desired items without issue. The full slew of applications and models can be revised on this website, providing the interested buyers with more details on the specific type of robot.
While the difficult-to-reach places could require a great deal of time for setting up available solutions, glazing robots require very little time to get going. They will also save you money on materials and other equipment.
2. Demolition robots
While construction usually involves building rather than demolishing, the latter practice may be important at times.
Demolition is a dangerous job and at times it can put our employees at risk. The deeper locations that need detonating would be tough to enter and exit safely for a demolition team. Not to mention that any malfunction could risk the construction worker’s health.
To ensure safety and cut down costs on employing a full team of specialists, we can use a demolition robot.
These robots can be mounted with a slew of extensions from breakers to drills.
Allowing them to fulfill multiple roles. This allows us to save money due to the robot’s versatility. The same equipment you’d usually get separately can now be put on the robot as an extension.
3. Bricklaying robots
Bricklaying is what any construction of standard buildings will require. The process is pretty standard and simple but the time it can take up is rather large.
The robots that do this form of work are rather new, only making their debut in March of 2024. One of the robots that made their debut during this time had constructed a two-story building in the UK. The mass production of them is slowly cropping up but when they become widely available they’ll be capable of fulfilling the job faster than any human worker. This makes building houses way faster and cuts down the time needed to finish raising walls.
The cost of work that goes into building the walls of a house lesser due to the simplification of the whole process that the robot brings. The precision of the bricklaying robot also ensures no structural mistakes are made during the process, causing them to be way more efficient as the human error could result in whole sections of the wall being broken down for the sake of fixing the issue.
4. Welding robots
When working with metal parts, welding will be one of the most frequent acts we engage in. Welders connect parts together, reinforce ties, and restructure sections to fit the necessary requirement. The whole process is incredibly necessary especially when working on metal frameworks of the buildings.
The robots employed in this job are called welding robots. They are completely automated and can fulfill the welding process quickly by both welding and handling the part being welded. The robot may be employing pre-programmed welding instructions or be guided by machine vision, which is a technology that allows the robot to inspect and analyze the job at hand. These can be combined to provide better results but it all depends on the implementation.
The money-saving factor of these robots comes from the fact that we needn’t employ as many workers for the welding jobs. The more mundane jobs the easier it is to program the robot to fulfill them with extreme precision. Possible human errors that may cut into the profits a bit, a part that’s been poorly welded needs to be separated and replaced causing extra expenses, which is something that doesn’t happen with robots.
5. Drones
An important aspect of construction is having accurate information about our project and the area surrounding it. While the plans we are given may not showcase any odd parts that could compromise the process, they may crop up during construction halting the job.
For the sake of information gathering, construction teams employ drones. Drones are autonomous flying machines that can provide an overhead view of the site. They are equipped with cameras that are meant to capture pictures and footage that could be later employed when elaborating on and executing plans. The most fruitful application of these robots is the ability to safely inspect dangerous areas. A troublesome sector located high off the ground would be very dangerous for a human to explore even with a full safety kit, for a drone it’s merely a routine procedure.
By employing drones, construction teams can cut expenses in multiple categories. One of the cuts can be made in the surveillance area as the more troublesome areas can be reached earlier. The safety equipment can be cut down on by not requiring securing harnesses to reach difficult areas. Another cut comes from the cut in time the jobs drone will be doing for us faster.