Common Robots and Elevate Robotics mentioned the autonomous system pays for itself inside one 13-floor venture. | Supply: Common Robots
As much as 1,000 ft. into the air, building staff want intensive security rigging to put in glass panel brackets. This important activity not solely places staff at risk, but it surely’s additionally repetitive and boring. To maintain staff secure and permit them to do extra high-value work, Harmon Inc., a U.S.-based glazing firm, is automating the method with expertise from Elevate Robotics and Common Robots A/S.
Harmon is an early adopter of this expertise, and to this point, mentioned it has seen a quick return on funding (ROI). As well as, the Bloomington, Minn.-based constructing façade firm mentioned the robotic system has improved employee security, in addition to consistency and precision in set up. The three companions mentioned the robots present a 3x multiplier on guide labor and supply a payoff inside one 13-floor venture.
Historically, to put in fasteners for glass façade panels on high-rise buildings, staff have to align, drill, and torque brackets in place to express specs, all whereas hanging off the aspect of a constructing. Not solely is the job not ergonomic, however there may be additionally a big probability for damage if a software or bracket falls to the bottom under, the place different staff could also be.
“Security is all the time first in thoughts,” mentioned Don Birmingham, normal superintendent at Harmon. “In case you can effectively do a job and take all the security dangers out of it, I believe any contractor would join that. So far as the employees, I believe they’d a lot fairly be contained in the handrail working a robotic than hanging off the sting of the constructing.”
Elevate Robotics makes use of two UR20 arms
Elevate Robotics makes use of two UR20 collaborative robotic arms from Common Robots for the modern building platform. The San Francisco-based firm has mounted these two cobots on every cellular robotic base. The small footprint and management containers of the UR20 make them simple to combine right into a cellular software.
“As a result of Common Robots has completed an important job of creating their arms very power-efficient, in addition to making it simple to combine right into a DC energy resolution, we are able to immediately join our arms to the battery and have our robots working absolutely, wirelessly on a building website,” mentioned Gary Chen, co-founder of Elevate Robotics.
As well as, the UR20’s IP65 ranking supplies confidence for Elevate’s prospects in utilizing the robots even in inclement environments together with mud and rain, in addition to excessive temperatures. The corporate has run the robotic efficiently from 20°F under zero as much as 120°F.
To develop its system, Elevate mentioned it used all kinds of assets from Common Robots, together with on-line technical documentation and help through myUR. It additionally used the boards on each the Common Robots web site in addition to their GitHub.
“Help from UR has been incredible,” famous Conley Oster, the co-founder of Elevate Robotics. “Any points that we bumped into or any questions that we had early on, we had a devoted functions engineer from UR that was in a position to assist us. The UR group and boards had been extraordinarily useful to us as properly. We had been all the time in a position to give you an answer in a well timed method.”
Harmon says robotics reduces guide necessities
Harmon reported quite a few enhancements since deploying the Elevate Robotics system. For instance, the guide set up course of for façade brackets usually requires two to 4 staff. As compared, the robotic requires just one particular person to handle it per set up location.
“It’s a 3x multiplier on conventional labor,” mentioned Oster. That multiplier supplies quick ROI for the robotic, usually offering breakeven for the robotic at about 13 flooring primarily based on a month-to-month lease and amortizing the robotic throughout the variety of installations on every ground.
The system didn’t simply work sooner than guide labor; it was additionally extra correct, exact, and constant, the businesses mentioned.
“In guide installs, round 30% of all fasteners usually aren’t put in in the appropriate spot,” Oster mentioned. “Utilizing a robotic like ours together with whole stations permits us to precisely place fasteners on the constructing’s edge or throughout the constructing’s core. We are able to set up inside plus or minus three-sixteenths of an inch, which is way superior to what we’ve seen in guide installations.”
Lastly, the system additionally consists of software program that gives rapid perception and historic logs of on-site information. This provides precise torque values and alignment for each bracket in actual time, versus random high quality inspections which are usually completed a couple of occasions on every ground.
Harmon had “as-built” information, which allowed its staff to regulate anchor positioning earlier than the glass partitions had been put in.
“I believe probably the most profit we obtained was the studies of the place the anchors had been put in,” Harmon’s Birmingham mentioned. “The earlier we discovered any deviations past specs, the better it was to remove them going ahead.”
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