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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

#71

Post by justsomedood »

Spooky23 wrote: post #7

Bricklayers are already a dying breed... workers compensation makes it way too difficult to build many structures out of brick. Most "brick" or "stone" you see in new construction is some prefab panel glued to something. IMO you'd employ more bricklayers doing trim work and operating the robot than you do now. And we should move away from shitty manufactured wood, glue and toxic treatments.

Isn't Engineered wood a pretty big improvement over plain wood?

I'm thinking wooden I Beam joists, LVL, and OSB for sheathing.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#72

Post by sokoloff »

thriftwy wrote: post #33

When you see at brick buildings built 100 years ago, it's works of art. It's apparent that amount of attention to detail is just not within range of most brick layers today. Especially when you consider price point. I'm talking stuff like this: http://www.etovidel.net/appended_files/big/4ea52a818bc08.jpg BUT, robots can change all that. You can render a wall on PC, with all mosaics and tiles and all kind of super pre…

Isn't it likely that many of the plain utilitarian brick buildings built 100 years ago have been abandoned, demolished, or simply faded into the landscape background, leaving us to take notice of the large, important, ornate brick buildings?

The house I live in is almost 100 years old, structural brick, and while it's a nice home, it's not by anyone's stretch an ornate work of art.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#74

Post by OrganicMSG »

Bartweiss wrote: post #30
dawnerd wrote: post #25

Whats the setup time for a robot that lays bricks? If you've ever seen a team of skilled masons/bricklayers build a wall, they're pretty freaking fast at it. I imagine the time to transport/setup/calibrate/etc a robot would eat up whatever performance gains it would have over humans - unless perhaps its a really big job, but how many of those are being built these days?

Fairly significant, apparently - you have to put up a scaffold alongside the wall for SAM to work. (And presumably, you need firm, open ground to put the thing on.) And they can't do corners or complex features, so when you hit those you need to either stop the machine or move it to a different part of the project. Headlines say they're 6x faster than normal masons, but that's during a given span of operation; over t…

Ideally you want a small robot that climbs the wall it builds with a crane follower being fed by brick fetching robots on the ground. If it was done properly you could fit it all on a flatbed and have it cheap enough to be bought by standard building crews.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#75

Post by onetimemanytime »

s_dev wrote: post #65
corpMaverick wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Transporting them is expensive because they're heavy and they're made far away from where the buildings are being built.

if it catches on, that will no longer be a problem.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#76

Post by gtirloni »

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?

Most new houses in Brazil are made of red bricks.

Concrete block are more common for buildings but red bricks are still heavily used.

Historical buildings were usually made of solid red bricks. Then for some reason (maybe new areas being populated with lots of wood), they started using wood for houses.

I've never seen a new house made of wood around these areas.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#77

Post by s73v3r_ »

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…

"Then bricklayers will be able to stay home and do as they please."

How? They won't be able to pay their mortgage/rent, and so be forced out onto the street.

"but the challenge of seeing each other as viable individuals defined by something other than a "job" as unattainable?"

Given this political climate, there isn't any will to help people who have been automated out of a job.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#78

Post by usrusr »

logicallee wrote: post #21
bkmrkr wrote: post #10

The replacement will not be laying bricks but new technologies. Computers didn't replace human "calculators" by using abacus.

as a counterexample your clothes are stitched with thread, even when automated. Sure the stitching is different but it's still a style that's appreciated. like thread, maybe bricks have a place still.

I'd absolutely love to see robotic bricklaying give bricks, and along with it brick ornaments, a comeback in medium scale construction. It's the only building material that is getting prettier as it ages. Bricks built both the industrial revolution and the Roman Empire.

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#79

Post by dredmorbius »

thriftwy wrote: post #33

When you see at brick buildings built 100 years ago, it's works of art. It's apparent that amount of attention to detail is just not within range of most brick layers today. Especially when you consider price point. I'm talking stuff like this: http://www.etovidel.net/appended_files/big/4ea52a818bc08.jpg BUT, robots can change all that. You can render a wall on PC, with all mosaics and tiles and all kind of super pre…

A suprisingly interesting old-school / new-school comparison of brick wall construction:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=p5qVxAoKwbE

Re: Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

#80

Post by onetimemanytime »

mprovost wrote: post #45
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…

Wooden buildings have the advantage that in an active seismic area they can survive (or let the occupants survive) earthquakes much better than brick. Building codes in California prefer wood pretty much for this reason, even though they are more susceptible to fire. Fires can be controlled, versus having every masonry house in a city fall down simultaneously.

Fires can be controlled, however those looking at ashes year after year question that. Brick homes can be made earthquake proof, up to a point. Lots of concrete and rebar (it can rust) http://www.understandconstruction.com/concrete-frame-structu...

Obviously it's a science and you can't be cheap with cement or rebar. A lot of them went kaput in Iran and Turkey...did not follow code.

A major drawback is that utilities (water, heating, electricity etc ) must be build in. There's no just replacing some sheetrock. But encased pvc probably lasts 100+ years.

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