Enabling safer and sustainable construction

Are you using robots in your construction operation yet? If not, it's time! Needs and requirements in the construction industry are evolving, demanding safer and sustainable building solutions. Roughly 55% of the global construction industry is currently using robots for varying tasks. That number is expected to increase to 81% by 2030.

The increased demand on the construction industry, combined with labor and skills shortages often means that quality and productivity suffer, as will your bottom-line. Productivity has been named a major driver for the adoption of robotic automation, leading to increased output and a reduction in project lead times. 

So, where can ABB Robotics help increase productivity, quality, safety and sustainability? We provide a number of options in the construction space, including on-site and off-site solutions that assist in elevator installation, walk paths, sidewalks, masonry walls, drilling, module assembly, structural assembly, 3D printing/additive manufacturing and more!

Innovation built by automation

  • Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)

    Additive manufacturing is taking the construction industry by storm, providing new solution options for the construction of structures like buildings, homes, and customized structures. 

    3D printing solutions allow construction companies to produce unique designs that can be incorporated into building projects. This provides new possibilities for manufacturing design and a new scope for the mass customization of structures at a competitive price.

    Combined with 3D printing, robots allow design-led building elements and components that cannot be achieved using normal construction methods. The flexibility provided by robots and RobotStudio® software is fundamental to meet the requirement for mass customization. A robot's ability to be programmed specific to varying needs and its ability to produce a range of different designs provide continuous added value. 

    See ABB Robotics additive manufacturing in action

  • Off-site Pre-fabrication

    Robots provide safer construction environments with their ability to handle large and heavy loads, access dangerous spaces, and enable new and safer methods of construction.

    A typical construction site would be doing the work onsite, where there is often a loss of material, a decrease in efficiency, labor, timing, and possible permitting issues.

    With the help of ABB Robotics, the ability to complete pre-fabrication off-site you increase efficiency, decrease cost, and increase production. 

    "Robotics is transforming the construction industry, and has to transform the construction industry," said House of Design Co-Owner, Ryan Okelberry. "The shortage in labor and the shortage in supply of costs affordable housing is not going to go away, and it will not be solved unless robotics is a part of that equation."

    Check out the full story here

  • Automated drilling

    The construction industry has been hit with a variety of challenges, including a worldwide labor and skills shortage. Robots in construction provide a safer environment with their ability to handle large and heavy loads, work in unsafe spaces, and manage repetitive and dangerous tasks - allowing employees the room to choose more appealing roles and careers. 

    "Drilling holes to install anchors in a concrete elevator shaft is a painstaking, repetitive and physically exhausting task," said the Head of New Technologies at Schindler, Christian Studer. "High accuracy and full concentration are essential to working safely and precisely." 

    See how Schindler, the world's leading provider of elevators, escalators and moving walks, developed an automated robot assisting installation system that improved the quality of work and provided better working conditions for the elevator installers. 

    Click here to read the full story!

Customer Highlight

House of Design, Autovol automate the pre-fabrication process

ABB Robotics Value Provider, House of Design, and end-user Autovol are working together to change how the pre-fabrication of multi-story, multi-family affordable housing is constructed. Autovol is an automated volumetric modular construction company.

Rick Murdock, Autovol CEO and Co-Founder, said that ABB Robotics has been a very integral part of Autovol's ability to automate their traditional construction processes, taking construction tasks that require heavy lifting off of their employees and placing them on their robots. 

"A typical construction site would be doing the work onsite," said House of Design Co-Owner, Ryan Okelberry. "There's a lot of material loss onsite. There are inefficiencies in the labor onsite - timing, permitting, things like that. When you can do pre-build, pre-fabrication off-site, you can parallel path those and you can control your loss in labor. You can control the loss in the waste - and a robot is perfect for that opportunity."