Just over a year ago, I was introduced to an early prototype of the SkyMul SkyTy, which is a robotic drone with a rebar tying attachment designed to autonomously locate and tie rebar on the jobsite. After a year of tweaks and advancements, SkyMul is now on their third prototype and they showed off those improvements in a new video.
In a recent post on their website, SkyMul states that this latest prototype, the “P3,” has been flying for a few months. The first thing that I noticed on the newest version was that the tying mechanism looked to be built custom for the drone. In previous versions, an off-the-shelf, battery powered rebar tying tool was strapped to the belly of the drone, so the update looks to be much more ergonomic.
via YouTube // SkyMul
But, with rebar typically being very close to the ground, why a drone? When I spoke to one of the creators of the SkyTy last year, he mentioned the uneven terrain that can cause many ground based robotic solutions a lot of trouble when trying to navigate across the rebar. The SKyTy can instead float to the next location and land on its oversized feet.
Setup time and upfront const is also greatly reduced with a drone versus a large robotic structure, such as the TyBot, which I also saw at last year’s World of Concrete. While the TyBot may be more efficient overall on large projects, a drone could potentially pose some benefits to smaller jobs or more difficult terrain or locations.
In its current iteration, the SkyMul technology will semi-automate the rebar layout and allow the rodbuster on site to make any necessary corrections. The total system consists of a ground unit, a drone for mapping, and several worker drones that actually do the tying.
To check out the SkyTy P3 in action, check out the video below:
source https://www.constructionjunkie.com/blog/2021/3/1/video-skyty-is-the-drone-that-ties-rebar-from-the-sky
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