Perth-based robotic technology company Fastbrick Robotics (FBR Limited) has completed construction of its first two storey structure using the Hadrian X construction robot.
The structure was built on FBR’s premises in a building style commonly found around the world in developing markets.
This includes key FBR markets such as Mexico, the Middle East, North Africa, Gulf Cooperation Council region and throughout Asia.
The successful build of the two-storey structure has taken HadrianX technology to the next level.
While there is still a significant human component in building such structures, the robot's rapid bricklaying could be deployed to speed up the construction of larger developments.
This build was no easy feat for the HadrianX robot. It had to work around elements like steel-reinforced concrete columns, suspended concrete slabs and rebar.
Significant step forward
“The completion of our first two storey build is a significant step in the commercialisation of our robotic construction technology,” said FBR’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Pivac.
“In many parts of the world our customers want to be able to build two storey structures safely, quickly and efficiently, and we have now demonstrated that the Hadrian X can deliver on those customer needs,” he said.
Mr Pivac says the new project demonstrates the company’s ability to work a range of design elements like steel reinforced concrete columns. These may be required in certain locations due to factors such as seismic activity, weather patterns or custom.
Such features may not be required to build two storey townhouses in places like Western Australia, he says. However, it was important to demonstrate to international customers that the Hadrian X was capable of meeting relevant engineering requirements in their markets.
Starter bars were inserted into the concrete slab, with couplers used to install rebar through the aligned cores of the blocks and concrete manually poured into the cores.
Steel cages were inserted into the block columns built by the Hadrian X, with a concrete pump used to fill the columns.
A crane lifted a precast concrete slab onto the structure the day after the first storey was completed. Hadrian X began building the second storey immediately after the crane left the site.
Mr Pivac says in large greenfields developments it is likely the Hadrian X will continue building the first levels of the adjacent buildings in the development while the second storey slabs are formed and poured. It would then return to build the second storey of each structure when the slabs have cured.
FastBrick Robotics recently partnered with one of Mexico's largest construction firms, GP Vivienda, to roll out the system in Mexico.
