A New York-based firm called Construction Robotics has recently developed a revolutionary construction robot that works six times faster than a human. The company named this robot as ‘SAM 100’. SAM is an abbreviation for Semi-Automated Mason. The robot is capable of laying 3,000 bricks per day.
This brick-laying robot can lay 3000 bricks daily, whereas a human can lay 500 bricks approximately. It just uses a combination of a conveyor belt, robotic arm, and concrete pump.
Construction manager Zachary Podkaminer said, “For a lot of different reasons, the construction industry has been slow to adopt innovation and change. Compare a construction site today from a picture of one year ago and, with the exception of a few tools, it really hasn’t changed all that much. Now it seems the industry is finally evolving and we’re trying to be a part of that by bringing technology to construction sites.”
The SAM is a potentially transformative tool in revolutionizing future building sites, but it isn’t cheap. In addition, it cannot work independently. A builder needs to feed the bricks onto its conveyor belt. Then, through its robotic arm, this construction robot picks the bricks, slathered them with the mortar, and placed them on the wall.
Currently, the SAM is working on building sites around the U.S. It works as a human partner that is required to smooth over the concrete before SAM places more bricks. Recently, it received an upgrade to SAM OS 2.0. which allows it to lay” soldier course” bricks.
Podkaminer said, “We don’t see construction sites being fully automated for decades, if not centuries. This is about collaboration between human workers and machines. What SAM does is to pick up the bricks, put mortar on them, and puts it on the wall. It still requires a mason to work alongside it. SAM’s just there to do the heavy lifting.”
“Some people are having a concern that robots like this will largely replace humans on construction sites. If robots can do the backbreaking heavy lifting and leave people to do other jobs, that could work out best for all involved.”