【Safety Walk with Thomas】Kick start the ROBOlution with Smart Robotics | 【安全誠行】智能機械人 展開建築新革命

The emergence of construction robots has revolutionised the construction industry. It is no not easy for the industry to improve ?speed, efficiency, and quality of construction projects under traditional construction practices, but the never-tiring, highly accurate construction robots would meet the needs of the industry perfectly and fill in the productivity gaps brought by labour shortage. Making use of construction robots in highly dangerous working space in place of workers would immensely improve site safety. Ir Thomas HO, Chairman of the Construction Industry Council (CIC), led a delegation of industry leaders, to Foshan for a tour of Bright Dream Robotics Limited as well as the campus expansion project of the Second People’s Hospital of Foshan, constructed by China Railway Group (Southern) Limited, to see various construction robots in action, and their applications in a smart site facility. The CIC also invited Bright Dream Robotics to take part in the “Workshops on Construction Robots” held in Hong Kong, to showcase the latest construction robotics to local practitioners, and allow a better understanding of construction robotics on how robotics can enhance productivity, and drive the industry’s? digital transformation.

The Three Core Pillars of Safety, Quality, Efficiency

Since its establishment in July 2018, Bright Dream Robotics has focused its efforts on the research and development, production and application of construction robotics, and its integration with Building Information Modelling (BIM). Thanks to the efforts of over 1,000 qualified researchers with doctorate degrees, Bright Dream Robotics were able to take enormous strides in its research in just a few years. Mr. WANG Ke-cheng, Chairman of Bright Dream Robotics stated that, since its establishment, the company has been devoted to the development and application of the smart construction robots, and have continued to optimise technologies to adapt to the needs and the complex nature of construction sites, eventually achieve a high standard of safety, quality, and efficiency. When it comes to talent development in smart construction, Bright Dream Robotics has also maintained close contact with various major institutions, to foster new talents and technologies via a collaborative system between production, education, and research institutions, in hopes of providing better foundations for more smart construction solutions, and hence more opportunities for smart construction robots in the future.

Commanding Three Robots at the Same Time

Bright Dream Robotic’s products are primarily painted in an eye-catching pink colour. Fully autonomous in nature, and only needed to be filled up with construction materials, the robots can triple the productivity compared with traditional construction workers. Though the construction process can be long and complex, a high level of efficiency can still be achieved when combining different construction robots’ functionalities.? The group also visited the a project in Foshan, which was one of the pioneer sites that uses smart construction robots. The delegation witnessed a worker operating three construction robots simultaneously: the technician first selected the appropriate robots with the help of BIM tools. ?Then various robots of different functionalities, such as Putty Spraying Robot, Painting Robot and Measuring Robots can be assigned specific tasks. The robots can also accurately install floor tiles and wooden floorboards, often times with higher quality than that of traditional manual labour, as the robots can automatically adjust the use of adhesive according to different weather condition, and improve the uniformity of the tiles with the consistent accuracy that can be achieved by machines.

Mr. Stanley TANG, Assistant Director (Hong Kong and UK) of Country Garden Holdings revealed the satisfactory results on its first trial in Hong Kong, at the public housing estate project at Tsing Hong Road, Tsing Yi, in which it took the robots only 15 minutes to finish painting the interior and the ceiling, and successfully covered 95% of the work area. Meanwhile, the delegation also visited the Bright Dream Robotics’ headquarters to witness a live demonstration of its “Exterior Walls Painting Robot.” Frontline workers can control the robot wirelessly via a tablet like a pilot. The robot is capable of painting a maximum of 5.5 meter length area each time, and complete 500 square meters’ work in one hour, which would reduce works at height, and mitigate the risks of falling, enhancing site safety.

Last year, the CIC invited Bright Dream Robotics to participate in the “Workshops on Construction Robots,” to share their knowledge on robotics with industry practitioners, as well as showcasing the potential of its four robots at a renovation project of an industrial building at Tuen Mun, including the Putty (Spraying) Robot, Measuring Robot, Putty (Polishing) Robot and Painting Robot. The CIC also arranged site tours for stakeholders to experience and better understand the use and benefits of these robots, in hopes of encouraging the industry to adopt innovative technologies on a wider scale, to improve productivity and safety.

Smart Construction Site in Foshan

In fact, multiple sites in Mainland China have already started implementing construction robots of various sorts. The bigger the site, the more crucial it is for them to adopt smart site management systems. The delegation visited the construction sites of one of the megaprojects in the Guangdong province and Foshan region – the Second People’s Hospital of Foshan campus expansion project, constructed by China Railway Group (Southern) Limited, to observe the application of smart construction robots. The expansion project covers about 252,600 square meters, and is expected to provide an additional 1,200 bed for maximising the hospital’s daily patient-handling capacity by another 10,000, and further optimise the hospital’s resources. The project employed vast amounts of innovative technologies, including at least 13 different types of robots specialising in different areas of the construction process, such as floor levelling, polishing, brick laying, painting and measuring etc, in order to impose a higher standard of quality. For example, compared with traditional methods, using the “Floor Levelling Robot” can increase the quality of output by 95%, saving the workers from going through a second round of levelling process, and could move on to brick laying straightaway.

Central Construction Command Platform Allows for Comprehensive Monitoring

Despite the benefits of the smart construction robots, they cannot go without proper instruction. Therefore, a central construction command platform was developed by the China Railway Group (Southern) Limited, unifying the ability to monitor projects all over the country under the same system, and helping the project team to better track the whole construction process. The platform contains a “smart quality control” module that uses big data analytics and real time surveillance to create a “smart quality inspector” on the cloud, to closely monitor and document the production quality throughout the construction process. Not only can workers’ online profile, and their working status be viewed within the module, it can also reveal precise information regarding various parts of the construction process, such as materials used, weight of different components, and even the temperature of the concrete. The system automatically looks for any abnormalities and any potential problems the workers may face in the construction process, and issue reminders accordingly, in order to save time, and improve efficiency at the management level. Ir HO was impressed by the functionality of the command central, and the positive effects it will bring to driving the trend in adopting smart construction methods.

New and innovative technologies are emerging by the second and areas of application for robotics in construction are ever expanding. The construction sector has enormous potential to transform itself into a technological powerhouse in the future, and complete construction projects at immense speed and accuracy, and bring along a faster, safer and more innovative construction experience.

建築機械人的出現掀起了建造業的革命。要在傳統建造模式做到提速、提效、提量不容易，無需休息、準確度高的建築機械人的出現就正好填補人手供應的缺口。採用建築機械人更減少工友進入高危區域工作的機會，，大大提升工地安全表現。建造業議會（議會）主席何安誠工程師早前率領業界領袖，到佛山市參觀碧桂園旗下的廣東博智林機器人有限公司（博智林）及中鐵建設南方公司佛山二醫院新院區建設項目，讓各人實地考察各款機械人的操作以及在智慧工地的應用。議會期後更邀請博智林參加於香港舉行的「建築機械人工作坊」，將嶄新建築機械人介紹予香港業界，了解建築機械人如何提升生產力，助力香港建造業升級轉型。

三大核心：安全、質量、效率

博智林自2018年7月成立以來，重點聚焦建築機器人研發、製造與應用，再配合建築信息模擬（BIM）進行工作。博智林成立初期聘請超過1,000位擁有博士學歷的工作人員做有關研究，令其在短短數年取得極為顯著的科研成果。博智林機器人公司總裁王克成表示，自公司發展以來，一直致力於建築機械人智能化應用與發展，不斷優化以適應工地繁複的環境和施工需求，最重要是達到施工安全、施工質量、施工效率。在智能化施工人才的儲備方面，博智林亦一直與各大院校保持緊密聯系，實踐產學研深度融合的人才培養和技術創新體系，致力培育創新人才，希望未來有更多實踐智能建造的解決方案，為建築機械人的發展創造更多機會。

一人同時控制三台機械人

博智林的機械人均以奪眶而出的粉紅色作主色。博智林的機械人都是全自動，只要添加建築物料後便懂自行操作，生產力更是一般前線工人的三倍。建築工程步驟多，只要不同機械人配合便能事半功倍，參觀團亦有前往住建部首批智能建造試點項目之一的廣東佛山新翼花園項目，見證一名年輕工匠同時控制三部機械人工作 ——工匠第一步以BIM找合適工序的機械人，例如派「批盪機械人」、「測量機械人」和「砌地磚機器人」去進行批盪、檢測、線灰、噴油、測量等工作。除了地磚，機械人亦可以精準安裝木地板，如全人手進行此工序，中間的黏貼部分可能受天氣或不同前線工友的手勢影響厚度，但機械人的人工智能系統，會自動調較厚度，令出來的「作品」更統一。

碧桂園集團香港及英國區域助理總裁鄧沛昕指出，去年博智林的室內噴塗機械人首次進入香港青衣青康路北的公屋項目，僅用了15分鐘就完成內牆及天花噴漆工序，而施工覆蓋率更到達95%。參觀團又到博智林總部觀看「外牆噴塗機械人」現場示範，前線工友如機師般，透過平板電腦控制機械人，而每次最大噴塗範圍更可以覆蓋5.5米，每小時500平方米，減少施工現場高空工序，免卻下墮風險，提升工地安全。

去年，博智林獲得議會邀請，來香港參與「建築機械人工作坊」，讓業界認識機械人操作，其後議會更安排二四部機械人在屯門的工廠大廈展開維修工程，包括膩子噴塗（扇灰）機械人、測量機械人、膩子（打磨）機械人、油漆噴塗機械人。議會亦安排了參觀團讓業界親身體驗操作原理及效果，鼓勵業界多善用創新科技，改善工地生產力及提升安全。

佛山智慧工地 ?質量效率齊提升

內地多個工地早已使用不同款式的機械人，愈大工程更愈需要採用智慧工地。參觀團亦到廣東省和佛山市超大型重點建設項目——中鐵建設南方公司佛山二醫院新院區的查看工程應用機械人情況。項目總建築面積約25.26萬平方米，預計設置床位1,200張，可滿足日均10,000人次的門診量，進一步優化佛山醫療資源配置。工程採用大量創新科技包括最少13種建築機械人參與地面整平、抹平、抹光、貼磚，砂漿噴塗、測量質檢等多道工序，進一步精準化控制質量。以「地面找平機器人」為例，應用後區域平整度相比傳統人手施工提升95%，還可以免除第二次找平工序，可以直接鋪設地磚。

建設指揮中心 ?全程跟蹤紀錄

即使有機械人亦要好好監察，佛山醫院新區此項目設有中鐵建設南方公司自主開發的建設指揮中心，在一個平台監察全國的項目，協助團隊好好掌握整個興建過程。平台專設「智慧質量」板塊，以大數據集成管控和現場監控為基礎，打造雲平台「智能質檢員」對施工質量管控全程跟蹤記錄，例如現場有多少工友上班，工友的資料都可以查看。板塊更能實時分析關鍵工序部位施工情況， 例如土建的物料資料、過磅時間及重量，甚至混凝土的溫度都可瞭如指掌。系統更會自動篩查反覆出現影響工程質量的施工問題並予以提醒，幫助建設團隊及時糾正、提升管理效率。建造業議會主席何安誠工程師稱讚項目的建設指揮中心可讓建築團隊充分掌握建造智能化的趨勢。

隨著科技的日新月異，建築機械人的應用範圍和功能也在不斷擴大。未來建築工地都可以成科技王國，以驚人的速度和精準度完成各種建築任務，為我們帶來更快、更安全、更創新的建築體驗。

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