Bricklayers Think They’re Safe from Robots

Post by seandougall » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 1:10 AM UTC

scythe wrote: post #70

mprovost wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There are some brick buildings in the Mediterranean which are seismically resistant. Italy, the birthplace of concrete, is seismically active after all: https://clay-wienerberger.com/expertise/brick-buildings-for-... I'm curious as to whether wood-over-brick could allow taller structures than wood or brick alone. Building cheaply in the 50-85 foot range (high-rise regulations kick in above a floor height of 75 feet)…

Post by thriftwy » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 6:46 AM UTC

ccozan wrote: post #107

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…

Yes, and this is not done because....? Humans are still the chaper option. Except when the bricklayers are in shortage and the demand for brick building is not going down.

Post by neuromancer2701 » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 12:03 PM UTC

OrganicMSG wrote: post #74

Bartweiss wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.