Construction Co-bots Need To Be Smarter, More Adaptive (Part Two)

Construction co-bots need some more development before they can become smart, adaptive, and responsive enough for a complicated construction environment. AUTODESK

For robots to really change the construction industry, they need to become more than just ‘tools’ in the eyes of the people using them. Previously I wrote about two construction robotics companies that are augmenting construction workers to alleviate a serious skills shortage, but these solutions focus on providing more powerful tools on-site, rather than looking further afield at the construction industry’s potential for automation.

In this article, I will delve deeper into robotics and automation in construction to look at how true autonomy might be achieved in a complex and high-risk environment, and what impact robotics might have on workers and the industry as a whole.

Adaptability is king

As AI becomes far more capable of dealing with nuanced and high-pressure situations without human intervention, more traditional pre-programmed industrial robots are becoming less useful in comparison. “Six-axis industrial robots are largely ‘mute’,” says Erin Bradner, Director of Robotics at the Autodesk Robotics Lab, “they are blind, they have no sense of touch, and [can’t really] respond to their environment.” As sensors are embedded into robotic arms and mobile robots as well, there is an increased emphasis on “introducing adaptivity into robots, to move beyond the paradigm…