Ferrovial has tested a setting-out robot from Civ Robotics for outdoor civil works.
Setting-out robots that print lines and marks on clean floor slabs indoors are beginning to make their mark. Skanska recently used the Dusty Robotics site printer on a medical building in San Jose, California, while both the Vinci/Sir Robert McAlpine JV and John Sisk & Son have used HP’s SitePrint robot on a hospital and residential scheme respectively.
But far less common are robots that can print on soil outdoors.
A Ferrovial spokesperson said that an outdoors setting-out robot is less precise than an indoor version, making lines and dots with paint.
“In case of challenging outdoor applications, the robot has to be more robust, and works with inverted conventional spray cans,” the spokesperson explained.
“The robots are less accurate in these cases. They usually mark lines or dots on the soil, depending on the use case. Some of the robots can even work for topographic surveys in very muddy and uneven terrains.”
The company said its goal was to increase the speed and quality of the setting-out process tenfold.
Ferrovial has tested the CivDot model from San Francisco-based Civ Robotics. Since first deployed in the field in 2021, Civ Robotics’ printers have been used in more than 15 US states. Trimble is an investor in Civ Robotics.
Ferrovial said the robots can also provide reports and more specific measurements, making it a “comprehensive digital ally on site”.
It has tested the robots on sites including the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella; the Bensell office building in Manoteras, Madrid; the Montepino warehouse in Illescas; an office block on Mahou Calderón; and a 148-home complex in Badalona.
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