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Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

nytimes.com

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Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#51

Post by notfromhere »

jMyles wrote: post #17

What a bizarre turn of phrase that bricklayers are "safe" only if they continue to engage in their profession, which comes with a substantial risk of injury. Of course bricklayers will be safer when robots are able to build houses. Then bricklayers will be able to stay home and do as they please. How have we come to think of the challenge of automating the matter of the universe as within our reach, but the challenge…

because you need money to live and a job is the primary means of earning money.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#52

Post by dwighttk »

corpMaverick wrote: post #46
olivermarks wrote: post #26

Bricks are expensive these days, and laying them is an artisan art and skill. Where I live in California houses are currently erected in days out of cheap wood and cladding. As soon as it is feasible this process will be automated and ways found to construct them more quickly using the cheapest materials. We recently had some terrible fires where entire subdivisions burnt. Dozens of houses burnt simultaneously yet th…

Does any one know why are bricks expensive ? It is just dirt. right ?

dirt plus

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#53

Post by lebski88 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #31
NullPrefix wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most "brick" or "stone" you see in new construction is some prefab panel glued to something Prefix that with "In the States".

What countries is brick still popular for primary construction? Japan is wood, China and much of Asia is majorly concrete. Europe?

Brick is by far the most common in the UK. Usually brick outer wall with an insulation gap and an aerated concrete block on the inner wall. Sometimes two concrete blocks if it's to be rendered (stucco?).

Oak wooden frame is sometimes (can be expensive) used but the wooden cladding approach is very rare. That said prefab panels which combine stud work insulation etc are sometimes used. Not particularly commonly but they are quite new. I'd have made pre-fab panels for my workshop but I ended up using brick as the fire rating made building control regulations easier to pass. It took me a long time to lay all the bricks though so I may have made the wrong decision!

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#54

Post by ytwySXpMbS »

corpMaverick wrote: post #46
olivermarks wrote: post #26

Bricks are expensive these days, and laying them is an artisan art and skill. Where I live in California houses are currently erected in days out of cheap wood and cladding. As soon as it is feasible this process will be automated and ways found to construct them more quickly using the cheapest materials. We recently had some terrible fires where entire subdivisions burnt. Dozens of houses burnt simultaneously yet th…

Does any one know why are bricks expensive ? It is just dirt. right ?

It's clay, and wood is much more abundant in the US. However, in other places such as the UK, wood isn't abundant, so most houses are made of brick.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#55

Post by vincnetas »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #31
NullPrefix wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most "brick" or "stone" you see in new construction is some prefab panel glued to something Prefix that with "In the States".

What countries is brick still popular for primary construction? Japan is wood, China and much of Asia is majorly concrete. Europe?

Yep. My house, and all neighbors around live in brick houses. In my country people have this strange notion from Hollywood movies that if house isn't made from bricks, you can punch though the walls with a fist :) And we also know kid stories about tree piggies.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#56

Post by jMyles »

ben509 wrote: post #44
jMyles wrote: post #17

What a bizarre turn of phrase that bricklayers are "safe" only if they continue to engage in their profession, which comes with a substantial risk of injury. Of course bricklayers will be safer when robots are able to build houses. Then bricklayers will be able to stay home and do as they please. How have we come to think of the challenge of automating the matter of the universe as within our reach, but the challenge…

Oh come on, commuting comes with a substantial risk of injury. People doing work aren't victims, they are moral agents making informed decisions to pursue larger goals.

Of course - I love work. But I also don't think that it makes sense, in a world of automation, to continue to define people by their work. There is no risk of being "unsafe" just because our species has figured out a way to train robots to do what was once your job. That's really ill thinking; the future is much brighter than that.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#58

Post by dwighttk »

Bartweiss wrote: post #35
ohf wrote: post #12

Clearly, SAM is a shitty robot. It looks as if it were designed by someone who had no intention of using it to lay bricks.

They're already in field use, and are apparently fine at it. They just do big, straight wall stretches for things like hospitals. The "would lose to master masons who have to put up corners in a speed contest" metric is a bit silly - on non-corner work they're operating 3x as fast as the masons they're alongside. No real risk they're replacing humans, but they do work. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/540916/robots…

Since they replaced journeyman masons there will be no new master masons and once all the master masons are dead they'll have to do that corner work too.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#59

Post by jMyles »

notfromhere wrote: post #51
jMyles wrote: post #17

What a bizarre turn of phrase that bricklayers are "safe" only if they continue to engage in their profession, which comes with a substantial risk of injury. Of course bricklayers will be safer when robots are able to build houses. Then bricklayers will be able to stay home and do as they please. How have we come to think of the challenge of automating the matter of the universe as within our reach, but the challenge…

because you need money to live and a job is the primary means of earning money.

I mean, I know that. I get it.

My point is: if we can think so far outside the box as to imagine a world where the matter around us literally moves to achieve our will, can't we also imagine a world where this precept no longer holds?

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#60

Post by ballenf »

robotrout wrote: post #39
ballenf wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3D "printing" walls and entire buildings onsite from epoxy, resins or other raw materials seems the most plausible.

I'm not an environmentalist, but even I would prefer we don't graduate to epoxy or resin for home construction. These things are all petroleum based and I have to imagine they outgas for a long period of time after construction. If they do burn, they will also doubtless emit lots of toxic gasses. I would prefer 3d printing type automation, but applied to compacted dirt or clay. I love adobe and wish it was more popul…

Agreed, although we already have a significant amount of petroleum based products in modern (US, anyway) homes: insulation (more and more styrofoam), sealing wraps, glues over fasteners, flooring, and plumbing. Your basic plywood by weight is a large part resins already, although no idea the makeup.

Maybe automation will make more "organic" building materials more affordable or feasible.

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