The rise of robotics within the construction industry is changing the way that buildings are being completed.
Here are 5 reasons why your construction industry company should consider implementing construction robotics.
1. Construction robotics can help solve NZ's skilled labour gap.
Few developments shape our society more than an ageing population. In 2016, 15 percent of all New Zealanders were over 65. By 2050 it is estimated that number will climb to 27 percent. As for people over 85 there are currently 83,000 within New Zealand. By 2060, it is predicted there will be 383,000.
New Zealand is trailing Europe by approximately three decades in its ageing population, so looking at the demographic transformations there can show us what is in store for us here. On average there are 2.6 people per household within New Zealand whereas in European countries like Germany and Sweden have an average of 2.0 people per household. This might not sound like much of a difference, but this small discrepancy is driving big transformations within the housing market. This is mainly due to the fact that there are more and more elderly people living alone in small dwellings.
As shown in Europe, New Zealand can expect this trend to continue for decades. It is predicted that New Zealand will need to build an additional 30,000 to 40,000 dwellings per year to cope with this demographic transformation.
As bad as the housing crisis is today, there is worse to come if we don't start solving our ageing population dilemma now.
With major skilled labour shortages becoming a very real possibility, construction robotics can start to fill the gap between demand and availability of workers.
The New Zealand construction industry can not wait for the crisis to become a disaster. Preparations and transformations must be made immediately.
2. Construction robotics can increase productivity.
Many construction industry robotics are being designed to utilize the existing workforce. Combine this with the fact that construction robotics increase productivity and speed up job completion times through highly consistent work, certainty of production levels and the ability to run 24/7, construction robotics owners are finding they have much more flexibility to catch up or get ahead of schedule even in the face of worker shortages.
If construction robotics increase the productivity of the existing workforce then the value of each and every worker increases also.
Throughout the building life-cycle, construction robotics are especially adept at completing repetitive tasks such as earth moving, surveying, prefabrication, laying and demolitions. Because of this adeptness, the skill-sets of workers will transform to become more responsible for handling complex and valuable tasks rather than spending time doing monotonous labour.
Below are some examples of the monotonous tasks construction robotics are already performing within the building life-cycle.
Earth Moving
Autonomous excavators to dig pipeline trenches.
Autonomous bulldozers to push materials away to create more space for excavators to increase productivity.
Autonomous removal of waste materials.
Surveying & Surveillance
Drones to help create 3D site maps and models of project sites.
Drones to scan and assess the progress of a construction project to detect potential errors and problems early.
Drones to supervise workers and secure job sites.
Prefabrication & Assembly
Robotic prefabrication of parts and materials.
Robotic wielding.
Robotic concrete spraying.
Laying
Robotic brick laying.
Robotic block laying.
Robotic paver laying.
Demolitions
Robotic wall breaking.
Robotic concrete crushing.
Robotic debris gathering.
With the use of construction robotics, a overall boost of 30% in productivity has been measured compared to traditional methods, particularly with the use of autonomous robotics. With the continual improvement of this technology over the coming years, even higher productivity boosts are predicted.
3. Construction robotics can provide more safety.
One of the highest priorities when planning a construction job is the removal of exposure to risk for workers. As there are so many opportunities for workers to handle large and heavy loads, as well as the chances of working in unsafe spaces, a lot of careful thought needs to go into the planning process to protect workers.
Autonomous robotics can continue to work even through extreme conditions such as high heat, heavy rain or heavy loads that put human workers at risk.
Apart from increasing productivity (as these robotics can operate even when human labour cannot), the risk to human well-being is completely negated.
With construction robotics reducing how many moving parts are on a job site at any one time makes monitoring what is happening and which people are where at any given moment a much easier task to manage. This then lowers communication errors and increases the ease to comply with health and safety protocols.
In 2018, WorkSafe reported 6 fatalities across the New Zealand construction industry and 2,746 work-related injuries or illnesses within just the first six months of the year. With construction robotics, these alarming numbers can be significantly reduced due to the elimination of human error, reduction of operator fatigue and the reduction of wear and tear on workers bodies. Up to an 80% improvement in safety performance has been found with construction robotics performing the same work but with less man-hours.
Every site manager wants to be able to provide a safe working environment for their team without compromising performance. Construction robotics makes this delicate balance a reality.
4. Construction robotics can produce higher quality with less waste.
With most construction robotics systems designed to be completely automated, manufacturing parts and materials created with these systems have shown to be much more consistent, with a higher quality finish than with traditional methods. This consistency and quality means that when these parts and materials arrive on site there is much less waste during building processes.
While onsite, the use of construction robotics removes human error and inconsistencies, which makes them faster, more efficient, more accurate, all with better repeatability. The final outcome is a higher overall quality to each build, on top of being more sustainable through the production of lower environmental impacts as waste materials are reduced.
Traditional construction practices produce a huge amount of waste, which not only significantly effects profitability, but negatively impacts the environment as well. According to a study by the Global Footprint Network, the number of Earth's (and its resources) needed for the world population to continue to live as it is now is attuned to 1.7 Earth's. Simply put, we cannot go on living like we are right now. If we do, we will arrive at a time when our planet will not be able to replenish the resources needed to continue to sustain life fast enough.
Shelter is a basic need for humans, but the way that we go about providing it needs to transform.
The construction industry and every company within has a large role to play in reducing worldwide waste by continually finding new and improved ways of building in eco-friendly techniques without losing quality. Construction robotics is one of the ways this worthy endeavour can be idealized.
5. Construction robotics can reduce operational costs & increase overall profits.
Within the global market, construction robotics represents a huge opportunity for construction industry companies.
In 2019 the construction robotics industry was worth $2.45 billion but by 2027 predictions are estimating a compound annual growth rate of 23.3% to $7.88 billion.
As already stated, construction robotics helps to fill skilled labour gaps, reduce man-hour direct cost, increases productivity, provides more safety, increases quality and reduces waste. As you are not spend as much money, the savings from all of the above factors combined adds up to 50% higher profit margins.
Construction robotics can come with a large upfront cost and investing in this technology may be daunting for many companies, but with decreasing upfront and support costs and long-term opportunities for joining this fast growing market heavily outweighs any short-term outlays.
Construction robotics offers a range of benefits to the construction industry, including solving the labour gap, increased productivity, provide more safety, higher quality construction with less waste, and a reduction operational costs while increasing overall profits . While there are still some challenges to be addressed, such as the upfront investment cost and the need for specialized training, the potential benefits make it a technology worth considering for construction industry companies looking to improve their operations and remain competitive in the industry. As the technology continues to evolve and become more widely adopted, we can expect to see even more innovative uses of construction robotics in the future.
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