Roborigger explains why automated lifting offers a solution to an ageing workforce while delivering improved productivity, safety and lower costs.
The construction and logistics industries are desperately in need of efficient solutions that allow them to do more with their workforce. The developed countries have reached or are approaching zero population growth and are being impacted by workforce shortages. In addition, productivity in the Australian construction industry has fallen 14 per cent since 2014 and is currently falling at around 1.8 per cent per year. Construction costs are rising at around five per cent per year. We need to change! Roborigger is developing a range of automation solutions to address these issues by allowing more work to be done by less people in a shorter time at lower cost.
Aspects of the solution are obvious says Roborigger’s Derick Markwell.
We must use efficient machines to do more of the work.
We must use the workforce that is available more effectively. This includes being able to do the work with a more diverse workforce.
We need to change the way we construct – more modularisation and offsite work
Safety improvements will come naturally from the above.
What are the stages towards achieving this in the crane and lifting industry? There is a suite of hardware, software and operational technologies that are needed. Most deliver a benefit in their own right. Others require operational changes in order to reap the benefit. For instance if the crane operations become more efficient, the materials need to be supplied at a faster rate and the manning needs to be adjusted.
Stage 1 – build electric cranes that can be controlled and monitored remotely – use sensors, cameras and “control by wire” control systems. This is already happening.
Stage 2 – Develop lifting devices that can control orientation, connect/disconnect remotely, control sway, upend and align.
Load orientation: Roborigger has developed its unit that controls orientation using a remote control and without taglines. It does this by accelerating a flywheel to create a reaction in either direction that is used to orient the load.
Disconnection and Connection of the load: There are a number of hook manufacturers that make wireless hooks, particularly in the range less than 20 tonne working load limit (WLL). The Roborigger hooks cover a range up to 85 tonne WLL and are designed for the lowest standard of user care and maintenance. Connection of the load is more challenging. Elebia hooks use a magnet which can grab an oblong link such that the hook can then capture it. The Roborigger hooks can be lowered onto a link or loop that is standing up and the hook will latch onto it. Both systems need to have the lifting arrangement thought through to allow this very significant advantage to be used.
With regard to anti-sway and upending in the air without using a second crane, there are Roborigger products under development that will hit the market in 2026.
Stage 3 – Develop intelligent instrumentation, cameras and Lidar sensors that can recognise objects and create spatial awareness.
Crane to crane anti collision systems already exist but these are not at the level yet to allow autonomous operation where they can reliably prevent injury to personnel or detect rogue objects and take appropriate evasive action. They do provide “operator assist” features that allow an operator to make decisions. Products from Ultrawis and Skyline Cockpit have highly advanced optical products while Amlab has a proven Lidar system that is currently used for port operations. Roborigger includes a camera with personnel detection that can blow a horn or allow the crane operator to activate the horn or use a loudspeaker to warn personnel in the danger zone.
Stage 4 – Relocate crane operator to an office.
This will deliver a very significant immediate benefit. Validate systems with a cabin at ground level on site. In the future, the operator could be located anywhere provided communications are reliable. This is already happening overseas and will happen soon in Australia. The other benefit is that the workforce can include more personnel who may not be able to climb the tower or work the full day in the crane cabin. Multiple operators can sit side by side or one operator could run two cranes if both are not needed at the same time. Putting lifts on tower cranes is the wrong solution for the long term. Skyline Cockpit has a system that is currently in use in Hong Kong. Other crane manufacturers are also developing systems.
Stage 5 – Change the design, construction methods and operational procedures.
Maximise precast / offsite prefabrication, build in lifting points on loads to allow autonomous connection and remote release, use vacuum and magnetic lifters, plan tasks differently such as emptying rubbish skips autonomously at night. Lifted items can be identified with RFID and the lift trajectories can be preprogrammed. The automation opportunities are greatly simplified when offsite fabrication and modular construction are employed.
Stage 6 – Supervised autonomous operation leading to full autonomous operation
In a manner similar to the development of autonomous vehicles, an operator will still be available to monitor and assist in the case of system failure at least for the next few years. Over time, with Artificial Intelligence, the input will reduce and this monitoring may be done remotely.
Some example where a small amount of automation has very significant and immediate commercial benefits
A Queensland vessel operator is loading on average 130 containers on their vessel in under 11 hours in a single shift with Roborigger to orient the load. There are no personnel in the vicinity of the load and no tag lines being used. Previously this took more than 13 hours and ran into two shifts.
A United Kingdom façade installation company installs 30 per cent more façade panels in a day with Roborigger in a manner that is safe, requires less personnel and it can work on days when the wind would previously have stopped work.
Both these projects pay off the equipment cost in about six months. These are the sort of wins that companies can have when they implement a well thought out system of automation.
The current state of the art for autonomous lifting
Every aspect described above is being worked on. Autonomous lifting is already being trialled. Sumitomo Mitsui has built six floors of a building with a crane in autonomous mode in Japan and BBL demonstrated its crane running in autonomous mode during Bauma. Both used Roborigger for load orientation. Much more work is still required to address the “what happens if…” cases that allow work to be totally safe and to adapt when there is an error in the planning or someone on site does something stupid.
The future
The components needed for autonomous crane and lifting operations will develop incrementally in the same way that cars developed cruise control, then lane keep assist, then collision avoidance before even thinking of fully autonomous operation. It’s likely that 80 per cent of the benefits will come from the first 20 per cent of development effort. It is already proven that the currently available systems deliver a good financial return as well as delivering the safety improvements. As manpower resources shrink, the companies that have embraced automation will be the survivors.