Robot bricklayers that can work round the clock coming to Britain

IIRC they've been working on them/playing with them for quite a while, the problem is that they are relatively limited in what they can do and whilst they can in theory "work around the clock", they won't, because that would require a lot of humans also working around the clock to supply them/monitor them/fix them and to do the bits the robots can't do but have to be done before the next stage.

I'm guessing if you were building cookie cutter houses they could potentially work in an offset timing so a few of the robots running and a smallish number of humans who are tending them, and as robot 1 reaches a point where it has to pause for human intervention robot 2+ can keep going, then robot 2 needs the attention whilst 1 and 3 on are running.

I suspect even if these take off, there will still be a big shortage of the electricians, plumbers and gas fitters, jobs that are much more complex than the basic "lay some cement, place 10 bricks, space, lay 5 bricks" stuff that can be done by virtually anyone (and is often the stuff left to the apprentices/lower skilled brickies).
 
There is more to building a house than laying bricks and I very much doubt the machine will be allowed to run 24 hours a day.
Diddums x said:
I can't see this ever taking off tbh. Far easier and cheaper to just build prefab stuff.
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That would make "none standard construction" and your going it hard to get a mortgage on one.
 
I'm surprised they're not opting for 3d printing houses or pre fabrication and IKEA assembley instead of sticking with brick work, keep it for repairs on existing structure I suppose but for new builds surely there's better more efficient ways to build houses now than brick by brick
 
The examples always show long straight walls with no windows, reveals, chimneys, doorways, corners, quoins, dpcs, trays, weep holes, ties, insulation and clips, different colours of bricks, bands, rebates etc etc. Still can't lay in the rain or cold.

How's it going to build that


Even the most standard house


There's a lot more to bricklaying than laying stretcher courses half brick
 
That's the sort of thing that always makes me sceptical, it's like the 3d printed houses which IIRC still require at least as much secondary work (often more) to finish off what would normally be done by the brick layers.

Personally if we're looking to speed up standard house construction, something like modular building sections would probably be more realistic at the moment, completed wall sections could potentially be carried on the back of a slightly modified trailer, with the only onsite work being bolting them together and laying foundations (most of the complicated work could be done in a factory setting where things like weather would not affect it at all).
 
to add, i think its also being used to test the technology before sending it off plannet.
theres suggestions of creating a base on the moon with automated systems
 
Werewolf said:
That's the sort of thing that always makes me sceptical, it's like the 3d printed houses which IIRC still require at least as much secondary work (often more) to finish off what would normally be done by the brick layers.

Personally if we're looking to speed up standard house construction, something like modular building sections would probably be more realistic at the moment, completed wall sections could potentially be carried on the back of a slightly modified trailer, with the only onsite work being bolting them together and laying foundations (most of the complicated work could be done in a factory setting where things like weather would not affect it at all).
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They made a ton of houses like that after the second world war, and although a lot of them were only designed to be lived in for 10 years, some are still lived in today.

Most of them were pretty substandard though, a lot of the ones today were subsequently repaired by local councils over the years.

I'm not saying good quality pre fab housing isn't achievable by the way, just saying it's nothing new, and also not something that ever really took off.
 
Werewolf said:
IIRC they've been working on them/playing with them for quite a while, the problem is that they are relatively limited in what they can do and whilst they can in theory "work around the clock", they won't, because that would require a lot of humans also working around the clock to supply them/monitor them/fix them and to do the bits the robots can't do but have to be done before the next stage.

I'm guessing if you were building cookie cutter houses they could potentially work in an offset timing so a few of the robots running and a smallish number of humans who are tending them, and as robot 1 reaches a point where it has to pause for human intervention robot 2+ can keep going, then robot 2 needs the attention whilst 1 and 3 on are running.

I suspect even if these take off, there will still be a big shortage of the electricians, plumbers and gas fitters, jobs that are much more complex than the basic "lay some cement, place 10 bricks, space, lay 5 bricks" stuff that can be done by virtually anyone (and is often the stuff left to the apprentices/lower skilled brickies).
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Yep, labour shortage affects complicated roles more. Anyone can lay a brick
 
BUDFORCE said:
They made a ton of houses like that after the second world war, and although a lot of them were only designed to be lived in for 10 years, some are still lived in today.

Most of them were pretty substandard though, a lot of the ones today were subsequently repaired by local councils over the years.

I'm not saying good quality pre fab housing isn't achievable by the way, just saying it's nothing new, and also not something that ever really took off.
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Aye IIRC the originals included things like compressed/recycled cardboard with a glue binder (similar to hardboard), oddly enough they stopped that and I think destroyed all the ones that had been built after a major fire.

There are a couple of companies that do modern versions that are built to meet or exceed building standards, and with a design life similar to a lot of normal houses. IIRC they are very heavily automated in production and pretty much all the wiring etc is allowed for in the initial work.
One of the problems with them is that they do require a lot of upfront investment as they are proper factories with specialist machinery, unlike normal construction where the house builder doesn't need much capital investment (materials, and rental of standard site equipment as needed).

IF it was thought through properly there is the potential to make even the factories semi portable - you are building an estate with hundreds of houses (or in an area with thousands going up), so you first hire/build a warehouse within an easy drive and move the equipment into that.
When you stop building the houses after a few years, the machinery can be moved to a new site and the warehouse is now there for use by other companies, either as warehousing, manufacturing or even retail.



Grim5 said:
Yep, labour shortage affects complicated roles more. Anyone can lay a brick
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That was my thought pretty much, one of my neighbours about 30 years ago built an extension in his free time, IIRC no professional help apart from the plans and roof. He had no experience before, so I think took a short course (anyone remember the old night courses you could do at local collages?), and then got onto it.
It took him a couple of years and his build quality is far in excess of many new builds by "professionals", as he was actually building it for his own use and was willing to take his time and check it (his courses are level, straight, evenly spaced and don't lean in/out, half the new builds I've seen are not as good).
Amusingly the electrics in the extension are probably the worst bit, at least in the garage area. He was a highly qualified electrician working on things like satellite comms in his day job, i've joked a few times that the bricklaying was probably relaxing and novel for him, the electrics on the other hand were too close to his day job so he got bored.
 
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They were working on these machines back in the 90s when I was an apprentice brickie.

In addition to building more complex jobs, as mentioned, there's far too many variables:

Windy conditions

Uneven ground

Wobbly scaffolding

Wet bricks, heavier and more slippery

Dry bricks, lighter and dusty

Cement composition


A good brickie adapts to all these variables, and cracks on with building the wall.
 
BUDFORCE said:
They made a ton of houses like that after the second world war, and although a lot of them were only designed to be lived in for 10 years, some are still lived in today.

Most of them were pretty substandard though, a lot of the ones today were subsequently repaired by local councils over the years.

I'm not saying good quality pre fab housing isn't achievable by the way, just saying it's nothing new, and also not something that ever really took off.
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We've got a lot of them in my home town, still standing and lived in today although like you said they have needed in most cases a fair bit of work to keep them that way.
 
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