Construction is one of the toughest industries to automate while the somewhat related (big equipment) mining business has proven to be one of the leaders:
There have been attempts in construction, the Dutch semi-automated brick-road-laying machine and the Australian cinder block wall-making robot are examples but remain very niche.
And more recently, from Nanalyze, August 6:
Built Robotics and Autonomous Construction Equipment
In the U.S. alone, 453,200 construction equipment operators
plied their trade in 2018, many of whom used earth moving machines to
move dirt around for various reasons. While operating an earthmover may
sound like fun to an 8-year-old, the job itself mostly fits the three
d’s – dull, dirty, and dangerous. Many road construction projects
require you to work at night, and you’ll be required to work in nearly
all weather conditions. Sounds like just the job for some robots.
Many industries might learn from how the military operates autonomous
aerial vehicles – drones – to monitor who in the world needs some more
freedom. Typically, one operator will oversee multiple drones which are
largely automated but often require a “human in the loop.” That’s the vision for Built Robotics, a company that’s offering autonomy to the $1 trillion earth moving industry.
About Built Robotics
Founded in 2016, San Francisco startup Built Robotics first came across our radar in 2017 when we published a piece on “8 Startups Building Robotic Construction Workers.”
At the time, Built was coming out of stealth and talking about taking
the sensors from self-driving cars and retrofitting them into
construction equipment. Today, Built’s technology transforms existing
construction equipment — including excavators, bulldozers, and skid
steers — into fully autonomous robots. The AI guidance systems can be
installed on existing equipment from any manufacturer, while still
maintaining complete manual operation capabilities.
Credit: Built Robotics
This past February, Built Robotics debuted the country’s first
commercially deployed autonomous construction equipment at North
America’s largest construction trade show, CONEXPO-CON/AGG. Conference
attendees in Las Vegas were able to operate a Built robot located in
Houston and see first-hand how autonomous heavy equipment is the way
forward.
And it wasn’t just a fancy demo. These autonomous capabilities are
now available to contractors and heavy machine operators. The upgraded
equipment is able to perform common tasks fully autonomously, such as
digging trenches, excavating foundations, and grading building pads. An article by Construction Dive
talks about implementation and pricing. “Upgrading and training to use
the software through Built can take one or two days,” after which
“customers then pay a monthly subscription fee for using the software,
as well as an hourly fee based on the usage of the robot.”...
