Robotics

Structural-strength-boosting robot makes its mark in wet concrete

Structural-strength-boosting robot makes its mark in wet concrete
The Conit Runner robot has been nominated for a CES 2025 innovation award
The Conit Runner robot has been nominated for a CES 2025 innovation award
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The Conit Runner robot has been nominated for a CES 2025 innovation award
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The Conit Runner robot has been nominated for a CES 2025 innovation award
Along with its sensors, the robot is also guided by a computer model of the construction project
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Along with its sensors, the robot is also guided by a computer model of the construction project
An integrated mechanism keeps the robot's wheels from getting clogged with concrete sludge
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An integrated mechanism keeps the robot's wheels from getting clogged with concrete sludge
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When most of us think of freshly poured concrete, we picture a material that should be left to dry as smooth as possible. A new wheeled robot drives right over the stuff, however, gouging its surface to make structures stronger yet also cheaper to build.

If wet concrete is poured in a single layer that is too deep, cracks will form in it as it dries and contracts. For that reason, the material is typically poured in successive stacked layers, each one of which isn't deposited until the one beneath it has cured.

One potential problem with this approach lies in the fact that if the layers are simply poured one on top of the other, the finished structure will lack shear strength at the interfaces between those layers. In other words, it won't take much force to make one layer slide horizontally relative to the one beneath it.

For this reason, the concrete is poured around an array of vertically-oriented lengths of steel rebar. Those reinforcing rods end up running through all of the layers, from top to bottom, boosting the structure's shear strength.

That said, rebar does cost money and add weight. Workers will therefore often manually add grooves to the surface of each layer while it's still wet, providing more surface area for bonding with the next layer. This increases the shear strength at the interface, meaning that less rebar is needed.

Of course, some of the costs that are saved by using less rebar are offset by the added worker-hours required for adding the grooves. That's where the Conit Runner robot comes in.

Along with its sensors, the robot is also guided by a computer model of the construction project
Along with its sensors, the robot is also guided by a computer model of the construction project

Developed via a partnership between Korean robotics company Itone and construction firm Posco E&C, the device autonomously makes its way across wet concrete surfaces at a speed of up to 10 mph (16 km/h), adding rows of grooves via its two 15-inch (381-mm) wheels as it does so.

The robot navigates those surfaces and avoids obstacles – such as the rows of rebar – utilizing LiDAR, ultrasound sensors, cameras and an IMU (inertial measurement unit). It's also able to measure the hardness of the concrete, ensuring that the material is firm enough to support the bot's 10-kg (22-lb) weight, yet soft enough for creating grooves that are at least 0.24 inches (6 mm) deep.

An integrated mechanism keeps the robot's wheels from getting clogged with concrete sludge
An integrated mechanism keeps the robot's wheels from getting clogged with concrete sludge

According to Itone, use of the Conit Runner reduces the need for rebar reinforcement by up to 30% and accelerates construction time by as much as 85%, reportedly matching the productivity of eight human workers.

There's currently no word on when the robot may enter wide use. For now, you can see it in action in the video below.

CONIT Runner is an robot designed for construction sites, indentations on wet concrete surfaces

Source: Itone

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4 comments
4 comments
anthony88
Oooh! Get it to do that on the top surface of the concrete and then after it cures, finish it with a clear epoxy resin. If it can make curved lines into white-tinted concrete, then it's possible to have a Japanese Zen rock garden effect.
dburdsal
This is stupid. A couple of guys, one on ea end could lower a grid of pex pipes down, make an impression, and then raise them back up. Then a couple of steps to the side, do it again. If build up became a problem, a guy could hose it off in between. A piece of rebar on ea end, long pieces of pex (which could be rolled up for storage/transport) running between them, with some cross pieces of pex the same wish a the rebar on ea end, zip tied in place across the long pex pcs just like twist ties on rebar to keep the long pieces the correct distance apart. You could just say 3, 2, 1 and ea guy let's go and drops the grid down. Have a rope on ea end and pull it back up. Heck you could make the whole thing out of rebar and have an excavator drop it, raise it, move sideways, drop it, raise it, etc. For the cost of this thing and all of its sensors, it's remote, etc? No way.
Karmudjun
Nice article Ben. You even have one critic who panned not only your synopsis, but the idea itself. It is so simple an idea that I'm surprised @dburdsal didn't come up with a better system easy to implement. Living around the USA's Hoover Dam built before WWII, I'd say the strength of the concrete structures hasn't been compromised by pouring layer after layer upon previous layers with rebar steel running through subsequent layers. Now I have poured new concrete over old concrete, and I did similar things to increase the adhesion - sandblasting, using diamond toothed saws to scarrify the surface, or apply bonding agent to the old concrete all work. Not stupid, it looks nice!
Ranscapture
Pretty sure cross hatched groves will be even better than straight