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.
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 the trees and cars didn't catch fire. This was due to embers landing on roofs and getting into attics - the houses went up like paper bags.
Making sure the next generation of cheap building materials are fire retardant and robust is a worry given the rush for maximum profit for minimum investment and wealth sharing automation brings.
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.
Surely the framing of a home is a very minor part of the total cost of construction at this point in time. My brother is a carpenter and formerly did mostly framing, and it wasn't a terribly high-paid job. He makes a lot more now doing concrete on commercial sites.
All of this is to say that I'm sure yes, I'm sure automation could reduce costs there, but likely the amount of money invested in R&D and then the machines itself wouldn't be worth it to these companies.
He beat the steam engine in a steel driving competition and was treated as a hero, but died from over exertion. The steam engine continued to work the next day.
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 the course of a day, with overhead, it's apparently more like 3x.
That said, the machines are in field use, since masons are scarce and expensive. You're right about the big jobs, too; they're apparently pretty much limited to sites like universities and hospitals which have lots of big, featureless walls. The Tech Review article about it is much more informative than the NYT one here. [1]
I think this sort of automation worry seriously over-generalizes from factory robots. Robots are spectacular at doing repetitive tasks with nicely-arranged inputs and fixed workspaces. Hence, Amazon warehouses and Ford factory floors. But (as the SAM people admit) outdoor, new-worksite tasks are going to involve way more mixed human/robot tasks.
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.
Just makes me think there's a market for a better brickie robot. The one they show is lethargic and built like a train. Even two robotic arms, working like a human does would be tons more efficient.
(I'd also like to complain about the stupid title, but it's what NYT picked)
I'm wondering why they are using an arm with a gripper, etc. Quit emulating how a human would do it, and make a machine for laying bricks.
I'm thinking something like a robot with treads, that can move in a straight line (or maybe curves), perhaps at the end of a long boom with a conveyor on it that moves bricks from a central source.
It basically grabs a brick off the end, squirts some mortar down, and lays the brick. Make the bricks shaped in a special way so they interlock better and need less mortar at the edges (they already have bricks something like this; they almost look like lego). Then it rolls to the next brick position.
Once it gets to a certain point, it "crawls up" to the next level, perhaps by gripping the level below with the treads (the mortar will probably need to be some kind of "ultra-fast setting" stuff; possibly more like epoxy than mortar), and lays the next layer, being guided by the last.
I guess I'm just saying this particular brick laying robot looks like it was designed by an engineer who, back at the beginning of heavier-than-air flight, thought an airplane needed to flap its wings to get off the ground...
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.
It appears to be a standard 6 axis robot arm equipped with a specialist end effector designed to pick, mortar, and place bricks. It's possibly on a linear track to drive up and down the wall too. This is likely far cheaper than designing and building a specialist robot for this one task.
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.
BUT, robots can change all that. You can render a wall on PC, with all mosaics and tiles and all kind of super precise stuff, it will produce a complete program for a brick-laying robot, which will then be executed up to a millimetre.
And it will also account for ventilation shafts, drainage, internal structures within the wall to decrease weight, increase toughness, heat- and soundproof.
I'd blame Bauhaus (the movement, not the band) for the lack of fancy features on modern-era buildings before I'd blame the bricklayers -- they just do what they're paid to do and modern architecture doesn't call for that level of detail in the brickwork.
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.
nah, some brick houses standing here from before 1900 are anything but art: unskilled farmers pulling up 'something'. Still standing though. And no, these sine-wave walls are not by design, ask my grandfather;)
using adhesive (for thermal blocks) removes a lot of the variables, to have thermal efficient structure the smallest (thinner) the junction layer is, the better, and as a matter of fact various kind of adhesives are already replacing mortar in construction sites, with precision ultimately depending only on dimensions of the bricks used.
I'm not a luddite, but every time I hear people talk about how everything from laying bricks to flipping burgers to landscaping will quickly become automated I have the following thought:
Humans are amazingly versatile, and amazingly cheap.
If I'm making, say, peanut butter, automation makes sense. I'll put up millions of dollars to leverage large-scale automation technologies (mixers, conveyors, etc) because of volume and consistency.
The smaller the scale, the better advantage humans have, and will for a long time.
Even if a burger-flipping robot existed today, it wouldn't have a great ROI compared to the ongoing cost of labor. A restaurant just doesn't make enough burgers for automation to be cost-effective yet. That is why most automation has occurred at centralized points of supply chains, and why a patty that enters a McDonalds is already the product of automation.
Someday, small scale automation technologies will have reached a low enough price point, and an effective versatility that we won't need humans to lay bricks or flip burgers. My bet is that occurs when the components (including software) of such a robot become commoditized and modularized far beyond what they are today.
It is a new tool, not any sort of replacement. There is much more to brickwork than laying bricks. Show me a robot that can crawl under a house to fix a cracked brick, or one than can shovel a trench without breaking something.
Why aren't they using shims and jigs? If you want to line it up right, make sure you have the right amount of mortar in the right place, etc, put a jig around it with some shims. It's the easiest way to build anything precisely that has to be done over and over again.
Bricklayers are probably safe from a robot that can perfectly replicate human bricklaying skill. What they're not safe from is whatever machine-built module that can be easily assembled by unskilled labor on site replaces brick walls.
So the prefab parts are just going to put themselves together in the factories? Then walk themselves to the job site? And erect and inspect themselves?
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 of seeing each other as viable individuals defined by something other than a "job" as unattainable?
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.
[+] [-] Spooky23|8 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] NullPrefix|8 years ago|reply
Prefix that with "In the States".
[+] [-] justsomedood|8 years ago|reply
I'm thinking wooden I Beam joists, LVL, and OSB for sheathing.
[+] [-] gormz|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] olivermarks|8 years ago|reply
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 the trees and cars didn't catch fire. This was due to embers landing on roofs and getting into attics - the houses went up like paper bags.
Making sure the next generation of cheap building materials are fire retardant and robust is a worry given the rush for maximum profit for minimum investment and wealth sharing automation brings.
[+] [-] mprovost|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cmrdporcupine|8 years ago|reply
All of this is to say that I'm sure yes, I'm sure automation could reduce costs there, but likely the amount of money invested in R&D and then the machines itself wouldn't be worth it to these companies.
[+] [-] corpMaverick|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] monocasa|8 years ago|reply
He beat the steam engine in a steel driving competition and was treated as a hero, but died from over exertion. The steam engine continued to work the next day.
[+] [-] dawnerd|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Bartweiss|8 years ago|reply
That said, the machines are in field use, since masons are scarce and expensive. You're right about the big jobs, too; they're apparently pretty much limited to sites like universities and hospitals which have lots of big, featureless walls. The Tech Review article about it is much more informative than the NYT one here. [1]
I think this sort of automation worry seriously over-generalizes from factory robots. Robots are spectacular at doing repetitive tasks with nicely-arranged inputs and fixed workspaces. Hence, Amazon warehouses and Ford factory floors. But (as the SAM people admit) outdoor, new-worksite tasks are going to involve way more mixed human/robot tasks.
[1] https://www.technologyreview.com/s/540916/robots-lay-three-t...
[+] [-] bkmrkr|8 years ago|reply
Computers didn't replace human "calculators" by using abacus.
[+] [-] logicallee|8 years ago|reply
like thread, maybe bricks have a place still.
[+] [-] ballenf|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Y_Y|8 years ago|reply
(I'd also like to complain about the stupid title, but it's what NYT picked)
[+] [-] fastball|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cr0sh|8 years ago|reply
I'm thinking something like a robot with treads, that can move in a straight line (or maybe curves), perhaps at the end of a long boom with a conveyor on it that moves bricks from a central source.
It basically grabs a brick off the end, squirts some mortar down, and lays the brick. Make the bricks shaped in a special way so they interlock better and need less mortar at the edges (they already have bricks something like this; they almost look like lego). Then it rolls to the next brick position.
Once it gets to a certain point, it "crawls up" to the next level, perhaps by gripping the level below with the treads (the mortar will probably need to be some kind of "ultra-fast setting" stuff; possibly more like epoxy than mortar), and lays the next layer, being guided by the last.
I guess I'm just saying this particular brick laying robot looks like it was designed by an engineer who, back at the beginning of heavier-than-air flight, thought an airplane needed to flap its wings to get off the ground...
[+] [-] Mithorium|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ohf|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Bartweiss|8 years ago|reply
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/540916/robots-lay-three-t...
[+] [-] diamondo25|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pseudonymcoward|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thriftwy|8 years ago|reply
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 precise stuff, it will produce a complete program for a brick-laying robot, which will then be executed up to a millimetre. And it will also account for ventilation shafts, drainage, internal structures within the wall to decrease weight, increase toughness, heat- and soundproof.
[+] [-] UncleEntity|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dredmorbius|8 years ago|reply
https://youtube.com/watch?v=p5qVxAoKwbE
[+] [-] sokoloff|8 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] singularity2001|8 years ago|reply
nah, some brick houses standing here from before 1900 are anything but art: unskilled farmers pulling up 'something'. Still standing though. And no, these sine-wave walls are not by design, ask my grandfather;)
[+] [-] ccozan|8 years ago|reply
Humans are still the chaper option. Except when the bricklayers are in shortage and the demand for brick building is not going down.
[+] [-] jaclaz|8 years ago|reply
https://www.theb1m.com/video/a-short-history-of-bricklaying-...
using adhesive (for thermal blocks) removes a lot of the variables, to have thermal efficient structure the smallest (thinner) the junction layer is, the better, and as a matter of fact various kind of adhesives are already replacing mortar in construction sites, with precision ultimately depending only on dimensions of the bricks used.
[+] [-] oflannabhra|8 years ago|reply
I'm not a luddite, but every time I hear people talk about how everything from laying bricks to flipping burgers to landscaping will quickly become automated I have the following thought:
Humans are amazingly versatile, and amazingly cheap.
If I'm making, say, peanut butter, automation makes sense. I'll put up millions of dollars to leverage large-scale automation technologies (mixers, conveyors, etc) because of volume and consistency.
The smaller the scale, the better advantage humans have, and will for a long time.
Even if a burger-flipping robot existed today, it wouldn't have a great ROI compared to the ongoing cost of labor. A restaurant just doesn't make enough burgers for automation to be cost-effective yet. That is why most automation has occurred at centralized points of supply chains, and why a patty that enters a McDonalds is already the product of automation.
Someday, small scale automation technologies will have reached a low enough price point, and an effective versatility that we won't need humans to lay bricks or flip burgers. My bet is that occurs when the components (including software) of such a robot become commoditized and modularized far beyond what they are today.
[+] [-] goodcanadian|8 years ago|reply
Sorry, I had to point it out; the burger flipping robot does exist (though, I don't think this really takes anything away from your point):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43343956
[+] [-] singularity2001|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sandworm101|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] peterwwillis|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jpindar|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] michaelt|8 years ago|reply
If you have the right amount, consistency and distribution of mortar, the jig won't do anything :)
[+] [-] bmcusick|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] s73v3r_|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] 0xdeadbeefbabe|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ricardobeat|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dugditches|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grawprog|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] jMyles|8 years ago|reply
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 of seeing each other as viable individuals defined by something other than a "job" as unattainable?
[+] [-] ben509|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adrianN|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] s73v3r_|8 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] notfromhere|8 years ago|reply