Automation comes to the construction industry
Photo by Rodolfo Quirós from Pexels
A robot that is able to lay bricks has been fully accredited by the housing warranty and insurance company NHBC.
Automation is big news in the business world and the construction industry is no exception. Recently a drywalling robot created by fresh new startup Canvas was launched to much excitement, and now, a bricklaying robot has been given accreditation by the National House Building council, ushering in a new age of automation that many commentators agree will help to improve profit margins in the industry.
The automated brickie was created by Construction Automation, a Yorkshire based company looking to create innovative new solutions to the construction labour problem. Their Automatic Brick Laying Robot is able to safely and efficiently build external brick walls by laying all of the necessary blocks, bricks and mortar that you would expect. It does this by moving around a track that is set up around the perimeter of the building’s foundations.
Of course, automation in the construction industry is not a new thing, kitchen cad design is a prime example of when digital technology can be used to save time and improve profit margins by enabling designers and architects to draw up kitchen plans in as little as 20 minutes, but this is something different completely.
The ABLR is a wholly automated tool, which should be able to eliminate the need for human input completely, once that is, the track has been laid and the instructions programmed. As a result, many people may naturally be sceptical of the robot builder, but as NHBC’s innovation manager, Richard Lankshear says, the robot has been intensively tested for more than a year, buy both the team at HHBC and the robot’s creators Construction Automation.
The ABLR has now been given ‘NHBC Accepts” accreditation, which in practice, means that construction companies can now use it to lay bricks and build walls for any home that is covered by an NHBC warranty, providing that the design and installation of said wall have been approved, and it has been deemed safe to do so.
Richard Lankshear said notes that modern methods of building play a vital role in the ability to deliver new homes in Britain. The housing crisis is only getting worse, and he believes that new technologies, such as this bricklaying robot can play an important role in helping to solve it.
He acknowledges that the construction industry is under immense pressure to increase the number of new homes they build annually, while there is a real difficulty in finding the right people with the right skills and expertise. His robot and others like it should take the pressure off the property industry somewhat by replacing the demand for human skills and labour.
That being said, it is still early days and it remains to be seen how many construction companies will embrace the technology with open arms. It may be that once they see how efficient such automated tools can be, and how safe the building they help to create really are, e will see many more construction businesses invest in similar technologies, and maybe even develop a few more.
