Construction robots moved on at pace in 2022. And – quite rightly – new robots’ focus was on the work that we don’t want to do, freeing up human resource to be deployed elsewhere (hopefully). Indeed, this year’s robots were in the dirt and danger zone.
Rat up a drainpipe
Ratty the robot scurries along underground pipes, carrying out inspection work. The brainchild of the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), Ratty is a tetherless, wheeled inspection robot with a laser-based navigation module, which has the potential to carry out tasks in environments that would defeat most robots.
Pipebots to the rescue
Just 20mm wide, Pipebots are the brainchild of a team from the universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Sheffield, with the support of utility companies and industry bodies. The micro robots inspect buried pipes – water pipes in particular – and they can both walk and swim.
HP’s site printing robot
In the late summer, HP launched a site printing robot that marks up plans on construction sites, generating significant productivity gains. It can also print text and thus bring additional data from the digital model to the construction site. It is autonomous and can avoid obstacles.
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