SkyMul

Why Our First Attempt at Bringing Robots to Construction Failed! It is hard to acknowledge failures especially when you've been working on them for a long time! But it's important to dig into the why because sometimes the reasons for the failures hold key insights. Over the past couple of years, we built various robots to automate some of the most challenging, backbreaking tasks for concrete construction. We were frustrated when we took the experimental robots to the site for demonstrations and pilots because we needed an accurate map of the available area to operate the robots efficiently. Further, areas used for staging and storage are inaccessible and must be cordoned off. But the status of concrete formwork changes hourly. There isn't live data on the site's status, the formwork constructed, or the area available to operate on. A few team members may have this information stored in their heads, but they are often too busy to communicate or document it. As a result, we spent valuable time in the field doing cartography instead of executing real work. Frustrated and desperate, we built had to invent a workflow for photogrammetry (stitching photographs to create 3D models) that is fast and accurate. After the field team scans the site, the data is sent to the office team who build/update the map simultaneously. We get the latest digital twin of the site with minimal field personnel time. I discussed our challenges with Mitch Bloomquist during the development of this workflow. He noted that contractors frequently miss or misplace items such as embeds, anchors, and inserts within the concrete, making it both difficult and costly to identify and fix these errors. He suggested that our scanning technology alone could be valuable for quality control. After consulting with many contractors, we realized that a living digital twin, generated from these scans, is useful not only for robot operations but also for enhancing human team efficiency. We recognized this as a critical problem to address first. A few months ago, we introduced this solution and have since piloted it across over a million square feet of concrete, saving thousands of dollars. Mitch Bloomquist and his Tilt-Up Concrete Association team are hosting Tilt-Up Convention and Expo 2024 in Phoenix (Oct 9-11, 2024) next week and we are thrilled to showcase our work here. Stop by our booth 509 (https://lnkd.in/dWv5ABbz) if you'd like to: * Enable your drone pilots to perform high-accuracy (0.25-inch) site scans. * Establish a robust quality control program for the prepour checklist. Receive daily quality control and deviation reports for tilt-up and decks, delivered overnight. * See a demo of a drone-in-a-box used to capture daily digital twins. We will do a live demo of the scanning system outdoors on panels on Oct 10th. GluDown, Inc., Suntec Concrete, Dayton Superior,