hyenergix
20-05-14, 13:45
Singapore minister urges use of robots at construction sites
BY LEE MEIXIAN
[email protected] @LeeMeixianBT
PUBLISHED MAY 20, 2014
Robots may soon take over the labour-intensive and backbreaking construction process of tiling in Singapore.
Not only will this cut manual labour by as much as 75 per cent, it can also reduce the risk of worksite accidents, Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan said in a blog post on Tuesday.
Researchers at the Singapore-ETH Centre Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) and ROB Technologies have conceptualised and developed a robotic tiling prototype for automated floor tiling, he said.
"This is still at the research stage. But if the robot becomes commercially available, the estimate is that the robotic tiling machine can lay tiles two to three times faster than the human tiler. An added advantage is that robots can deliver high precision and consistent quality."
Doing the math: while it takes two tilers two working days to complete a three-room HDB flat, the same two tilers in two working days can do four such flats with the help of four robots. "This is a four-fold jump in productivity!" Mr Khaw said.
Such robots will be able to work alongside workers at a construction site and perform the menial tasks of laying floor tiles, while workers focus on higher-value added work such as refilling and grouting the tiles, and cutting odd-size tiles to fit the corners.
This productivity measure may be funded by the Building and Construction Authority, he added.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/breaking-news/singapore/singapore-minister-urges-use-robots-construction-sites-20140520
BY LEE MEIXIAN
[email protected] @LeeMeixianBT
PUBLISHED MAY 20, 2014
Robots may soon take over the labour-intensive and backbreaking construction process of tiling in Singapore.
Not only will this cut manual labour by as much as 75 per cent, it can also reduce the risk of worksite accidents, Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan said in a blog post on Tuesday.
Researchers at the Singapore-ETH Centre Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) and ROB Technologies have conceptualised and developed a robotic tiling prototype for automated floor tiling, he said.
"This is still at the research stage. But if the robot becomes commercially available, the estimate is that the robotic tiling machine can lay tiles two to three times faster than the human tiler. An added advantage is that robots can deliver high precision and consistent quality."
Doing the math: while it takes two tilers two working days to complete a three-room HDB flat, the same two tilers in two working days can do four such flats with the help of four robots. "This is a four-fold jump in productivity!" Mr Khaw said.
Such robots will be able to work alongside workers at a construction site and perform the menial tasks of laying floor tiles, while workers focus on higher-value added work such as refilling and grouting the tiles, and cutting odd-size tiles to fit the corners.
This productivity measure may be funded by the Building and Construction Authority, he added.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/breaking-news/singapore/singapore-minister-urges-use-robots-construction-sites-20140520