March 19, 2009

New projects aim to add robots to the construction team some day

Construction Corner

Korky Koroluk

Ever since Karel Čapek’s science fiction drama R.U.R. premiered in 1921, we’ve loved the idea of robots.

In the play, Čapek portrayed Rossum’s Universal Robots as what we would call humanoids, with nothing mechanical in either their appearance or the way they operated. Indeed, they could think for themselves, which didn’t work out at all well for their masters.

Robots come into their own whenever repetitive tasks need doing, so in the construction industry they are being used for welding, demolition, painting, some aspects of roadbuilding, assembly of panels for manufactured building, pipeline inspection — all sorts of things.

Recently some students at Virginia Tech designed a robot capable of climbing scaffolding or poles to perform inspections.

Now a group of scientists and engineers at Nagayo University in Japan has been working on half-robots, or wearable robots, designed to assist the wearer in his duties.

The team’s efforts evolved from work done by other scientists in developing robots to assist patients with neuromuscular diseases. These are devices mounted in wheelchair arm rests, and they enable the user to perform a number of functions without the need to exert much force.

The present team, though, has built a prototype that helps carpenters installing overhead boards or panels, and it works.

The overhead work was chosen because four separate tasks are involved: lifting the board, setting it in place with two hands, holding it with one hand while screwing in a few fasteners, then letting go of the board and finishing the fasteners.

Two steps — setting the board in place and holding it with one hand—were found to cause the most muscle fatigue.

So the scientists designed a harness that the worker wears, and that supports both a robotic arm and a control unit. The arm can help raise the board into place, and hold it there. And measurements have confirmed that the carpenter experiences less arm fatigue.

Lots of work remains to be done, however. The harness can be uncomfortable. The arm is cumbersome and slow to adjust. And while arm fatigue has been measured, no reliable assessment of over-all physical fatigue has yet been devised.

That’s important, because working with your arms over your head for any length of time tires the whole body, not just the arms.

It’s nifty technology, but it’s not yet ready for prime time.

In the meantime, development work continues on Asimo, a robot designed by Honda. The first model was rolled out about 20 years ago, and it was pretty rudimentary. But as model followed model, it improved, and the present line was unveiled in 2000. The latest model was built in 2005.

Asimo looks somewhat like a spaceman a little more than a metre tall, and wearing a backpack. Honda is thinking that it will one day serve as a companion for the ill or elderly.

To this end, Asimo has been programmed to detect movements in several objects at once, assessing distance and direction. It can interpret the positioning and movement of a hand, recognize postures and gestures, and react to voice and visual commands. Offer a handshake and it holds out its hand. Wave to it and it waves back.

It can also recognize objects and terrain around it, and react to potential hazards, such as stairs. It can avoid other moving objects, including people. It can even recognize up to 10 different faces and address them by name.

Programmers are still working on other attributes, but so far there is no word on whether Asimo will be made rugged enough to work on a construction site.

If it could, it could help the carpenters with their overhead work. And after the task is finished — well, Asimo can already go get the coffee.

Korky Koroluk is an Ottawa-based freelance writer. Send comments to editor@dailycommercialnews.com

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