Shimizu And Sony Start Joint Demonstration Experiments Toward Practical Applications For Patrol And Monitoring Robots At Construction Site
By Ron Chen, Correspondent ASEAN Region
Shimizu Corporation and Sony Group Corporation have announced that they have started demonstration experiments to develop practical applications for using robots to streamline construction management tasks such as patrols and monitoring at construction sites.
The demonstration experiments are being conducted at a site in the A district of the Toranomon-Azabudai Project* in Tokyo, currently under construction by Shimizu. A mobile robot under development at Sony’s R&D Center is being put to use at the actual construction site, which features level differences, openings, obstructions, and other obstacles to evaluate its performance and verify the technology.
Background
Due to concerns over a shortage of engineers at construction sites in the near future, expectations continue to grow in the area of improving productivity by using technology.
Shimizu has been looking into the possibility of assigning certain tasks such as construction turnover and safety management to robots in an effort to streamline construction management, and considering introducing new technologies at construction sites. Sony has been engaged in developing high-efficiency mobile robotics technologies and has been searching for a way to move into demonstration experiments with the goal of applications in various industrial fields.
Shimizu and Sony started these demonstration experiments in the hope that they will drive the technical development of mobile robots for practical use at construction sites.
Purpose
‧To verify the usefulness and identify the issues and needs related to introducing mobile robots for construction management tasks such as patrols, monitoring, and turnover inspection.
‧To evaluate hardware and software performance of the mobile robot and to verify the technology.
Period
November 2021 to June 2022 (scheduled)
Details
Sony’s test mobile robot is being used in the main tower at the A district of the Toranomon-Azabudai Project (Toranomon-Azabudai District Category 1 Urban Redevelopment Project) in Tokyo, currently under construction by Shimizu. Testing will be carried out to verify the robot’s locomotion, monitoring (image capturing), and control performance, with the anticipation of it engaging in patrol and monitoring tasks and construction turnover inspections in lieu of the superintendent that usually handles such work at construction sites.
