Spot Robot Dog Expands with Arm Attachment, Teams up With Drone, and more!

Image courtesy of Percepto

Spot, the popular yellow robotic dog/grasshopper from Boston Dynamics, was officially released for sale to anyone earlier this year and it continues to make new friends – and grow new limbs apparently.

Sticking with the theme of dogs being man’s best friend, spot has been busy making new friends with a drone and teaming up with construction technology powerhouse, Trimble. In 2021, you will have an option to buy an arm that will attach to the top of the robot right in the middle of its two front legs.

It’s been very interesting following the development of Spot as a platform.  As I talked about on my recent appearance on the Construction Brothers Podcast, I can’t think of any piece of hardware that has captured the minds of other companies that want to integrate with it.

Spot + Drones

Just when you thought one robot was enough, now they’re teaming up with each other. Percepto, an Israeli-based drone maker, recently scored a $45 million investment and is putting that money to good use in their R&D department. Percepto’s Autonomous Inspection & Monitoring (AIM) collects and analyzes data from around the jobsite by itself. By teaming up with Spot, the drone takes care of the aerial data collection, while Spot takes care of the ground-based collection. Spot will also carry Percepto’s payloads for their imaging and thermal vision hardware.

"Combining Percepto's Sparrow drone with Spot creates a unique solution for remote inspection," said Michael Perry, VP of Business Development at Boston Dynamics, in a press release. "This partnership demonstrates the value of harnessing robotic collaborations and the insurmountable benefits to worker safety and cost savings that robotics can bring to industries that involve hazardous or remote work."

You can see more about the Percepto and Spot partnership in the video below:

Spot + Trimble

In the same vein as the partnership with Percepto above, Trimble and Spot will combine their forces to use the robot’s autonomous functions to automatically collect data for site scans, surveying, and progress monitoring. Trimble plans to sell their integrated Spot robot with integrated scanning, total station, and GNSS technologies already installed.

"We believe the combination of Trimble's experience and industry leadership in construction technologies and Boston Dynamics' Spot can transform the way the industry operates," said Michael Perry, vice president of business development at Boston Dynamics, in a press release. "The integrated solution will enable any jobsite leader to deploy Spot and Trimble technologies to get an accurate view of construction progress through real-time data collection. With a more comprehensive view of site activity, project managers can take proactive measures to ensure on-time, on-budget and safer project delivery."

The company plans to make the Spot/Trimble robot available in the second quarter of 2021 and will have distribution partners in the US, Canada, UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.

You can check out the Trimble/Spot partnership in the video below:

Spot + Robot Arm + Charging Station

Since the beginning, Boston Dynamics has touted Spot’s ability to actually open doors and, next year, that will be possible when they release the robotic arm attachment. According to TechCrunch, there isn’t a hard date on when the arm will actually become available, other than “early next year.” The arm will also be able to pick up and manipulate other objects, besides door handles.

In addition, TechCrunch also reported that the charging dock, which will allow Spot to dock and charge itself will also be available sometime next year, price to be determined.

You can see the arm and charging dock in last year’s launch video for Spot below:

---

source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2020/12/15/spot-robot-dog-expands-with-arm-attachment-teams-up-with-drone-and-more

The CAT S42 Rugged Smartphone – Tough, But Is That Enough?

CAT S42 Rugged Smartphone

The jobsite can be a pretty tough place to be a smartphone. Moisture, dust, high and low temperatures, and drops on hard surfaces have been the demise of many, no matter how much you might spend on a proper case.  CAT phones has been producing rugged phones tough enough for the jobsite for several years and has recently released an economical version to fit any budget.

The CAT S42 Overview

First things first, let’s set the expectations.  This phone retails for $299 (currently $262.40 on Amazon), so it’s not competing with the newest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy device. If your top priority is performance, this phone won’t pack the performance punch you’ll want or need.

If your priority is avoid having expensive phone payments and rocking that gnarly cracked screen that you know one day will sever your finger in two pieces, than you might have found a solid match. Let’s get into the details…

Features

The headline for the CAT S42 is obviously its overall ruggedness.  The 8 oz. phone feels beefy – in a good way – and it performs like a defensive lineman. It sports an IP68 rating, making it waterproof  in up to 1.5 meters of water for 35 minutes, as well as being sand, dust, and dirt resistant.  It was also factory tested against 6 foot drops onto steel (which I had a lot of fun testing on the Cat S48c last year) on every side and corner.

To round out its toughness, it also boasts a MIL SPEC 810H rating, which is a US military standard that tests environmental stress – in this case thermal shock. The phone can handle high to low temperature differences between -22 degrees F and 167 degrees F for up to 30 minutes.

Another very useful feature is the large 4,200 mAh battery, which can give you up to 2 days of runtime, of course depending on your use. That battery size is in line with the Galaxy S20 series, but the Cat will use much less power than those phones require.

The phone has a 5.5” display and is protected by scratch resistant DragonTail Pro Glass, which can also be used with wet or gloved fingers. Like most of the CAT phones, it has a programmable push-to-talk button on the side and a covered headphone jack and charging port. To round out the features, it also offers a 13MP rear-facing camera and a 5MP front facing camera.

Performance

As I mentioned in the overview, this phone isn’t going to be a world beater in speed and power – nor should you expect it to be. It is, after all, a quarter of the cost of the newest iPhone. This is, however, one of the only phones that you’d feel comfortable washing in the sink, which is a bonus during a global pandemic.

It will run most apps without any issue, but you are limited on the internal battery storage. Out of an available 32 GB of storage, the phone comes pre-loaded with over 17 GB of software, leaving just under 15 GB free. The system alone uses up 11 GB, so you’ll definitely need to invest in an external SD card, if you plan to use it for a while

While I enjoyed the volume of the speakers on the S48c I reviewed last year, I found the S42’s lacking in overall volume and depth.

I was also disappointed that the phone is equipped with a micro-SD charging port, as opposed to USB-C.  It also is not enabled with wireless charging, which is always a great option for rugged phones.

Value

Priced the lowest out of the available CAT phones in the US, it’s clear that the S42’s purchase was to provide a very rugged option at the lowest price point possible, and I think they have achieved that goal. It’s definitely tough, comes with very solid battery life, and at a reasonable cost.

For individuals looking for a no-nonsense option that they don’t have to baby, this is definitely worth a look.  For companies looking for an enterprise rollout option for their crews that are notoriously hard on their phones, it’s also worth a look.

If you need more power, but still want that ultra-ruggedness, CAT have several other options available, including the feature packed S61, which includes a thermal imaging camera and laser distance measurement.

---

source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2020/12/10/the-cat-s42-rugged-smartphone-tough-but-is-that-enough

Safe Site Check In’s Touch-Free, Paperless Check In and Health Screenings, Offer Post Pandemic Benefits

This article has been sponsored by Safe Site Check In. For more information, visit safesitecheckin.com

Historically, it has been pretty difficult to track who enters a construction site or building and when, which can pose a safety and health risk to your jobsite, especially during a global pandemic. Paper check in forms are ineffective and hard to track and other systems, like key card entry, require high up-front costs and hardware purchases.

Safe Site Check In, a new smartphone application, is aiming to make the jobsite sign-in process much safer and easier than ever. Through the use of a QR code, site workers and visitors use their smartphone to scan the code, answer a few health screening questions to make sure they don’t have any symptoms of COVID-19, and are granted or denied access to the site digitally.

By using their personal devices, companies don’t have to worry about multiple people using the same tablet or pen, which can facilitate the spread of germs.

If it’s later determined that an employee or visitor contracts the virus, Safe Site Check In offers private contact tracing. This makes it extremely easy to determine who may have come into contact with that person, helping to reduce the risk of spreading it further.

Guests and workers checking into the site are not required to download an app or create an account, and their personal health information is stored only on their device to comply with HIPAA and OSHA regulations. The app is available in both English and Spanish, but can also be customized to support other languages, if needed.

Site managers can access check-in logs across multiple sites, receive instant notifications when visitors are granted or denied access, and view reporting dashboards from their account of Safe Site Check In. Administrators can also customize the screening questions for each individual site in order to comply with all state and local requirements.

The Safe Site Check In Summary Metrics

Although Safe Site Check In was released in June of 2020 with the pandemic in mind, the benefits extend beyond health screenings and contact tracing. The company told me that many of their clients, which extend from construction to residential and commercial to real estate, plan to use the system after a vaccine becomes widely available.

Having a digital record of who enters your jobsite can help in the tracking of attendance, productivity, workers compensation claims, union dues, security, and profitability, not to mention making daily log reporting easier.

One of the things that I most appreciate about Safe Site Check In is that they don’t over complicate the cost of the system and it’s extremely affordable. For each site, the system costs $79 per month for unlimited users and no need to purchase any additional equipment.

To see how simple and easy Safe Site Check In is to use, check out their demo video below:

---

source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2020/12/9/safe-site-check-ins-touch-free-paperless-check-in-and-health-screenings-offer-post-pandemic-benefits

Transparent Wood Developed by US Researchers for More Efficient “Windows of the Future”

image via the USDA Forest Service

Wood, a notoriously opaque substance, has apparently been resting on its laurels for far too long and not reaching its full potential, a team of researchers from Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), the University of Maryland, and the University of Colorado believes.

The team has developed a process to remove the pigment from balsa wood, creating a completely transparent wood that they believe could be superior to glass in nearly every circumstance when used as windows. Their published findings, titled “A Clear, Strong, and Thermally Insulated Transparent Wood for Energy Efficient Windows,” say that the material is lighter, more durable, up to five times more thermally efficient, and creates much less carbon emissions than is glass counterpart.

“The energy used for regulating building temperatures accounts for 14% of the primary energy consumed in the U.S. One-quarter of this energy is leaked through ineffcient glass windows in cold weather. The development of transparent composites could potentially provide affordable window materials with enhanced energy efficiency,” the paper explains.

When the wood window is impacted by an object, it either bends or splinters, as opposed to shattering.

By treating the balsa wood, which is very low density and fast growing, with an oxidizing bath and then penetrating it with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), the researchers were able to make the wood virtually transparent.

What about moisture and water resistance, though?  It appears that additional testing will need to be conducted. The research team did not that they experimented with applying an oil-based polyurethane onto the transparent wood, which performed much better in humidity and water immersion tests.

This isn’t the first time transparent glass has been researched, either.  In 2016, researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology also discovered a way to create transparent wood.  More information on that research can be found by clicking or tapping here.

Full Story: A Clear, Strong, and Thermally Insulated Transparent Wood for Energy Efficient Windows | Forest Products Laboratory

---

source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2020/12/8/transparent-wood-developed-by-us-researchers-for-more-efficient-windows-of-the-future

US Cuts Canadian Lumber Tariffs from 20% to 9% Amid Soaring Prices

Throughout the pandemic, contractors throughout the US saw lumber prices skyrocket for a variety of different reasons, including a huge increase in DIY and home remodeling projects, sawmill shut downs, and wildfires. In September, there wasn’t a lot of positivity about the situation getting better any time soon, but prices have slowly started to come back down to earth since then – though still much higher than normal.

Part of that recent price drop was due to the US Department of Commerce significantly decreasing tariffs imposed on Canadian softwood lumber, according to the NAHB. Originally imposed in 2017, the tariffs imposed on imported lumber averaged around 20% and have subsequently been lowered to around 9% on average, after an administrative review.

The NAHB, who has been on the forefront of calling for the federal government to reduce the tariffs for several months, says that there’s still more work to be done to continue lowering lumber prices back to a reasonable number.

“The Commerce Department’s action to reduce duties from more than 20% to 9% on softwood lumber shipments from Canada into the U.S. is a positive development, but more needs to be done,” said NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke, in a blog post. “Tariffs have contributed to unprecedented price volatility in the lumber market in 2020, leading to upward pressure on prices and harming housing affordability for American consumers. The U.S. needs to work with Canada to end the tariffs and achieve a long-term, stable solution in lumber trade that provides for a consistent and fairly priced supply of lumber.”

How has lumber pricing affected your projects since the beginning of the pandemic? Let me know in the comment section.

Full Story: Commerce Department Cuts Lumber Tariffs from 20% to 9% | NAHB Now

---

source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2020/12/7/us-cuts-canadian-lumber-tariffs-from-20-to-9-amid-soaring-prices

[VIDEO] Nuclear Power Plant Site Utilizes 2 of the World’s Largest Cranes, and 55 Other Tower Cranes

via YouTube // EDF

2 years ago, crane manufacturer, Sarens, unveiled what is considered to be the world’s largest crane, by both size and lifting capacity.  Big Carl, as the huge crane was nicknamed, began work a few months later on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in England.  Now, the jobsite boasts an abundance of crane activity, a true site to behold, and it was captured on aerial footage for you to enjoy.

According to KHL, Big Carl will be accompanied by up to 55 tower cranes at the peak of construction, as well as Marr Contracting’s Favelle Favco M2480D Heavy Lift Luffing (HLL) tower crane, which is widely believed to be the world’s largest luffing jib tower crane.

For comparison, Seattle, Washington had the most active tower cranes in the United States with 65 in 2018 across all jobsites.  This single project will have 55 by itself.

In the November 2020 project Update, EDF Energy explained that 2 of the reactor buildings and 1 turbine hall have gone vertical on the project that is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

Big Carl, the gigantic yellow crane in the video below, is working in the prefabrication area of the site and recently lifted a 187 ton “liner cup” into place in the second reactor building. “The liner cup is the base for the reactor’s steel containment which is being prefabricated in five parts and lifted into place by Big Carl,” EDF explained in a September 2020 blog post. The second liner cup was completed 30% faster than the first one, showing the potential productivity gains from repetition on such a large scale.

Big Carl can’t rest his weary bones just yet, though, as he’ll have more than 500 prefabricated steel and concrete structures to lift into place throughout the project, the heaviest weighing over 1,700 tons.

Check out the video below for the breathtaking views of power plant project:

---

source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2020/12/6/video-nuclear-power-plant-site-utilizes-2-of-the-worlds-largest-cranes-and-55-other-tower-cranes

Toro Releases e-Dingo, an Electric Powered Compact Utility Loader for Indoor Jobs

courtesy of Toro

Indoor construction and commercial remodeling jobs require a unique subset of equipment: compact enough to get through tight, sometimes occupied spaces, while still having enough power to complete the job. Equipment that emits exhaust emissions can also be extremely dangerous in enclosed spaces, so ventilation is key, but can be hard to come by. Enter the e-Dingo, Toro’s newly released electronic compact utility loader.

The e-Dingo promises the same benefits and power of a standard utility loader, just without the fuel costs and dangerous emissions. Powered by a lithium-ion battery, the machine has a maximum operating capacity of 515 pounds and is customizable with several different attachments, which also work with their standard Dingo.

The existing attachments include:

• Standard Bucket

• Narrow Bucket

• Light Materials Bucket

• Adjustable Forks

• Multi-Purpose Tool

• Hydraulic Breaker

• Grapple

• Leveler

• Utility Blade

• Auger

Reaching a top speed of 2.75 mph, the e-Dingo is also equipped with non-marking, solid wheels, to reduce damage to flooring materials to remain existing. The loader is 35.6” wide, 82.2” long with a bucket, 48.7” high, and weighs just over 2,000 pounds.

While Toro does state that the battery can be fully recharged in 8 hours, it doesn’t list total runtime, which is likely due to the variety of tasks it can perform, each putting different stress on the machine. To help preserve battery, the e-Dingo will go into Auto Idle mode, which shifts it to low idle after 5 seconds of non-use and shuts it off after 30 seconds of down time. The e-Dingo can be instantly woken up with a double tap of the traction control lever.

You can check out the Toro e-Dingo in action in the video below:

---

source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2020/12/2/toro-releases-e-dingo-an-electric-powered-compact-utility-loader-for-indoor-jobs

Procore Launches Free, Online Course for Using Data in Construction

via Procore

From a management-level perspective, the true value of adopting new technologies in the construction industry is the ability to quickly and reliably gather data. It’s nearly impossible to make a sound business decision without it, yet it’s still – in a way -- a relatively new concept in the industry. We’ve always collected data, but many times it’s stuck in paper forms or tucked away in a file on someone’s laptop, not easily sharable with others in the company. So now that construction data is easier than ever to collect and organize thanks to the massive innovation that’s taken place over the last decade, how do we best utilize it?

Procore has recently released a series of free online courses to help figure out how to manage all of the data being collected by various sources. The 5 lessons will cover popular means of collecting data, such as AI, drones, and VR, but also how to implement change based upon the findings of the data. These courses are available to both non-Procore and Procore users, alike.

The 5 courses included in the series are:

• Introduction to Data in Construction – learn the basics and why data is important

• Collect & Analyze Data – learn how data is curated and analyzed

• Machine Learning and AI – learn the differences between AI and machine learning and how both can impact your projects

• Data on the Jobsite – how to actually use and implement findings from data

• Future of Data – learn about predictive analytics and how data will be collected and analyzed in the future.

Those interested can enroll on Procore’s Data in Construction Series website.  Continuing education units can also be earned for each course completed.

The Data in Construction series joins dozens of other free, online courses that Procore currently offers to anyone in the industry. Procore’s Education platform has over 100 different courses covering Safety, Technology, Industry Trends, Business, Inclusion, and Procore specific certification.

More information: Data in Construction Courses | Procore

source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2020/12/2/procore-launches-free-online-course-for-using-data-in-construction

[VIDEO] New World Record For Tallest Building Demolished By Explosives

via YouTube//Safedem

Back in 1998, the Hudson Department Store in downtown Detroit, Michigan was demolished by explosives.  That building stood 410 feet tall across its 29 floors, making it, at the time, the tallest building to ever be taken down by implosion. The dust cloud covered many city blocks and the 20,000 unsuspecting people that came to watch the event.  That record was just recently broken by a building over 100 feet taller than it.

Prior to its recent demolition, the tallest building in Mina Plaza Complex in Abu Dhabi, UAE stood at roughly 541 feet across its 46 floors, according to Demoliton News. Scotland based demoltion company, Safedem, carried out the explosive demolition, which landed them in the Guinness Book of World Records.

There were four towers in the complex, totaling 144 stories in all, which were imploded simultaneously, according to Safedem.

You can check out the video of them implosion and the Guinness World Records ceremony in the 2 videos below:

---

source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2020/11/29/video-new-world-record-for-tallest-building-demolished-by-explosives