The new Baubot construction robot can lend a hand to many onsite construction tasks. | Image credit: Baubot
Equal parts journeyman, bricklayer, welder, painter, 3D printer, drywaller, and security guard, the new Baubot from Print Stones is a new autonomous construction assistant. This new category-setting solution is attempting to help automate onsite construction tasks with a mobile manipulator. The machine includes a tracked mobile base with a 6 degree of freedom arm attached. The Baubot company is a new venture of Printstones GmbH, an Austrian startup focusing on the development of digital manufacturing processes and mobile robotics solutions for the construction industry.
The following video pretty much tells it all:
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It’s no secret that the construction industry is plagued by a lack of skilled tradespersons. Any developer or contractor can attest to the difficulty of hiring and retaining qualified and reliable labor. The number of housing starts picks up steam in March in the US, to an annual rate of 1.74 million units. This is according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. Overall, this was the fastest pace for combined single-family and multifamily construction since June 2006. It’s the same throughout the world. Enter Baubot.
Construction workers are in short supply. | Image credit: Pexels/Burst
This new machine is a perfect specimen of a mobile manipulator. The design goal is to create an autonomous machine that can maneuver anywhere on a construction site and be able to lend a helping hand to whatever task is required. Baubot accomplishes this by outfitting the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) with a tracked base. This enables it to climb stairs and work on multiple floors, or to drive across a construction site that has a variety of obstacles that would stop a wheeled AMR. The robot also includes an onboard, industrial robotic arm from KUKA robotics, that enables a variety of applications. Baubot can weld, sand, drill, screw, mill and even 3D print – all using the onboard arm.
The MRS10-100 has a vehicle payload of 500 kg and a robot payload of 10 kg. The reach of the robot arm is 1000 mm. | Image credit: Baubot
As of press time, Baubot appears to have a product line consisting of three different types of new construction robots. Each design is unique in it’s way and design for specific construction tasks.
Baubot MRS10-100
The MRS10-100 is the smallest autonomous mobile manipulator in the product family. It has a vehicle payload of 500 kg and a robot payload of 10 kg. The reach of the robot arm is 1000 mm.
Baubot MRS70-210
The MRS70-210 is the larger of the two mobile solutions. It carries a full-size KUKA industrial robot arm on top of the mobile base. MRS70-210 has a vehicle payload of 900 kg and a robot payload of 70 kg. The reach of the robot arm is 2100 mm. Based on its size, the MRS70-210 isn’t likely to be able to maneuver up stairs to a second floor, but it could be lifted to another floor by a crane. The mobility of the MRG70-210 is primarily to move it from one working location to another where it would be employed for a high-throughput tasks. It’s essentially a mobile robotic work cell.
Baubot SRS100-400
SRS100-400 is a complete digital manufacturing cell, which can be used at construction sites or concrete factories for additive and subtractive production tasks. The SRS100-400 has a gantry system with a payload of 100 kg and a production area of 4.2 m2. It comes housed in its own shipping container. It is designed to be an onsite production facility.
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