I'm a mason myself and have done many brick jobs. You pretty much covered everything. This thing isn't going to put anyone out of work anytime soon and doesn't really solve a problem. As you said, we need better alternatives to traditional bricks.
@@StrangerHappened Laying clay bricks on a wall is nothing. I've laid 1000+ SqFT paver driveways everyday, 5 days a week, for 2 years. That's what killed my back. And no I don't see anyone for my back or take medication.
A friend of mine owns a paving company, the bulk of their income comes from paving brick parking lots and streets. A solid decade ago they bought a brick pavement laying machine. The machine isn't all that smart in what it can do, but if all you need to do is cover distance, it's very good at that. Some bits have to be done manually, but because those are done on the machine as well, there isn't near as much heavy lifting involved. The tedious job now is feeding oddball bricks into the machine, the bulk of the bricks are fed into a hopper by the pallet load with a front loader. No more sitting on the knees for 8 hours a day doing nothing but lifting paving bricks. The only work that actually requires human labour now is the jobs that actually require skills, knowledge and thinking. Things that the machine can't do. Or the really small jobs where the machine won't fit. But for the most part that machine has taken over the back breaking tedious work and in doing so it has prevented people from going into disability by the time they hit 40 and has extended their productive career by 20+ years. And because the machine, a front loader and a lorry can do basically everything that a crew of a couple dozen used to do, it's also solved the problem of the decrease of people entering the field. Same in the printing industry, I've worked at a printing company for almost a decade. In that time I saw a lot of boring or tedious jobs being shifted to machines. Machines became cheaper, more flexible and easier to set up. Very much taking the tedious work away from people. But again it's a field that fewer and fewer enter, having "cool" machines to work with actually adds appeal to the industry. In the end the only work that ended up with people was the work that required skill, knowledge, and creative thinking. There's a lot of satisfaction to be had in making a small run of wedding invitations and seeing the customer be happy with what you've made. There's very little satisfaction in sleeving and addressing 21000 brochures because some company wants to send their marketing blurb on their latest product to their customers. Of course there will always be the boring and tedious work that can't yet be automated or where automation is cost prohibitive. Sure, not all work can be fun. And the same applies to that SAM 1000, it's a very expensive robot arm they've used there. For a machine that does such simple work, that can easily be replaced by a much simpler and cheaper mechanism. Or if they want to keep the expensive arm, they should put their Software Development department to work, because they are really under utilizing that. Same with the feeding of the machine. Mortar can be pumped, there is no reason why a human should be doing that. No one wants to do that. Same with bricks, slap a hopper on that thing so it can be filled by a front loader by the pallet load. Sure it might not be able to cut a brick for a window or door opening. But that's the skilled, knowledge, creative thinking required part that most bricklayers probably don't mind doing. But it not being able to do corners I can see some truth in that, due to how a corner has to be laid, but if there were multiple robots that shouldn't be a problem.
the thing is, if you're just using brick as a cladding and not as a structural element, you may as well just ship huge panels from a factory and stick them in place (this exists). or just forget brick altogether.
Belinda, you do a great job on these presentations. You have the ability to take a subject like bricklaying and make it interesting. And, you do this with a clear, no-nonsense approach. Well done and thank you.
It's cool that we had bricklaying automatons that far in the past! Also cool how much it had in common with today's robot. Nova Bricks look like a great idea, about time to look at improving things. Will you be covering Prefab traditional single family homes? Structural Insulated Panels? The flat-pack homes we keep seeing demoed (but never actually deployed)?
It bothers me that the 1967 brick-laying machine, and the bricklaying speed competitors were both skimpy with mortar on the headers; the human shown missed the headers completely. Someone would have to come by later and squeeze it in. I'm just a regular person who's not in construction, but surely you can't leave gaps like that? I found the way the modern machine spread mortar very satisfying. I could watch that all day :)
It's cool that you used a clip from Mike Haduck Masonry channel. Peppered within his masonry videos are discussions on building methods at archeological sites like Machu Piccu, Egypt ans Scotland. Even though it's not as polished, people that like your channel might like those discussions.
Once again another great video to get people thinking in the 'right' direction. Old school mindset may simply die with the old school alumni as it did in the hot metal printing industry. I'm 64 and may be one of them ;)
Very well presented. I couldn't help but smile when you said that it takes too much looking after, having to feed it and clean up after it. Relatable to any parent.
Excellent video. I ran across your channel a few days ago. It is so good I have watched almost every video on it. Tons of really good information. Keep up the good work.
$500K is still a little cheaper than a union job. J/K unionists, don't burn my house down. Brick laying is not the issue, the issue is that every single house is a custom construction. Even when built from the same design drawings. Buildings can not be compared to automobile manufacturing until they are the exact same. Until people want to live in a GMC three bed room made of stamped steel and aluminum, we're gonna need carpenters and bricklayers. Elon Musk may have different thoughts.
Yuor channel - which again, i stumbled upon by accident, keeps giving me fresh thought food everyday, and you do such a great job of always representing as best you can all sides of an argument or topic. Much much success to you in the future!
I am not an expert in bricklaying.As a homeowner/architect wannabe,I can just say I love brick & the strength and beauty it provides. Hoping for a good solution so that bricks don't go "out of style".
Well researched and well stated and a lovely presenter, thank you. I’m a retired career mason/masonry instructor and while I acknowledge the fact that masonry is a dying trade I’m certain that traditional masonry will always have a niche moving forward. Traditional masonry is highly labor intensive and because of that has become cost prohibitive so robotics may well help with that. But as you have already pointed out they shine on the long (money) walls which are less common, so we’ll see if they’re worth the cost. Also setting up a robot on a pristine flat factory floor or a construction job site are two very different things considering that the finished product has to be accurate to within millimeters. I agree that mortarless products & methods while retaining an appearance will gain in popularity due to less cost & shorter time constraints. And as I’ve said, traditional masonry will likely still have a place for those that can afford the real thing and want a fancier finish.
i really wish the classic stile of masonry was more common. solid brick and stone buildings are so much more beautiful than the modern decoration brick. i say decoration because i can't spell fassod.
Facade. (or veneer) brick. It's not really doing anything structural. But it becomes a big problem if the structure inside is wood and starts to settle. .... Or the weep holes clog and the sills rot out. AMHIK...
The future of blocks might be in lightweight interlocking blocks that incorporate better structural and insulating properties than brick. They have been around for some years but there must be some drawbacks to them.
@@Timzart7 they are local for me and I had no idea about them! Thank you for posting this because I'm in the suuuuper early stages of home buying and was thinking of building instead. I hate how the houses are built in Arizona typically lol like you can blow on them and they will tip over. I'll defo be looking into these guys
Wow you’ve really done your research I’m very impressed with the content I’m in the trade and you really got all the details down 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 are you sure you haven’t worked on a site as a brickie ha 👍🏻
I think the last take was interesting, to redesign the brick so that it essentially stacks and screws to the studs. I was also thinking of Mike Reynold's idea of using tires for cmus and tamping them full of earth and covering them with nails and adobe for his Earthships. Or the wine bottles that he cuts in half and tapes the two bottoms together to use for glass bricks to let light into the area. But those are also labor intensive. I was trying to think of a machine that would stack the tires and hammer them full of earth so that humans could do some of the less cumbersome work.
you should have a look at the Hadrian X robot being developed in Australia. It takes a different approach again and looks quite promising. Would be interested to see your take on it.
Hadrian X is absolutely my favorite. I personally consider him as best among all the innovative construction machines. But Hadrian is used for basic walls of the buildings, SAM for the facade, so it would ideal to see both of them deployed, doing their task. And no, they would not put people out of work.
I was hoping you'd talk about 3-D printed buildings when comparing new automated technologies. There's a company in Austin, ICON, that builds by extruding a proprietary concrete mixture and bypassing the need for a brick altogether.
My thoughts are that 3D printing of some fast-setting, hard material is where the future is. I know there have been TeD talks on this in the recent past. Perhaps a stamped brick fascia could replace the traditional layered brick. I know it certainly LOOKS great when done well.
@@BelindaCarr Yes at least as far as the 3D printing goes. Something with at least some constituent of concrete but with a property not unlike expanding foam. I've no doubt it would be exothermic, so that may assist in curing time. Stamping can be done on a large scale with the forms themselves.
Frankly the one from the 60's looks like it was more purpose built and practical, and put the bricks down faster than the more "modern" machine, which incorporates an extremely expensive multi-axis robotic arm and looks like more of a stunt than a real attempt at innovation, especially with that 1/2 million dollar price tag.
Belinda, have you done a video on the efficacy of tiny homes on trailers? I would love to know what you think about those if you haven’t done a video on that type of housing. If you have, please forward me the link; I didn’t see one. Thanks for so much insightful information on architecture. I want to build a tiny house (not with a shipping container😉), so I welcome all the insight you’re willing to provided.💚👍🏾
Hi Belinda, thanks for the video. Me and my friend loved your content so much. I watched it twice to see if I missed anything. You had me thinking a lot about bricks this time. I can't help but notice the adoption of innovative modular bricks has yet to become mainstream. I tried to do some searching but maybe i'm searching the wrong keywords, I have yet to find any answers for it. I was considering economies of scale to be one of the factors of modular brick adoption. So mind pointing me in a right direction so I can do further reading myself? Thank you Han
Thanks for the kind words! I made a video a while back on new structural CMU blocks ruclips.net/video/oPOSL3vxKCU/видео.html I haven't found anything specific to economies of scale, but as soon as I do, I will send it to you. Thanks!
@@BelindaCarr I watched your video on CMU designs already. Would definitely love to try building a wall with Armo bricks one day! As a quantity surveyor, i cant help but wonder what the costing would be like for this CMU bricks. What is the cost comparison between traditional clay bricks and this CMU bricks. Foreign labours from Bangladesh are really cheap in my country as compared to developed nations, so I suspected the cost trade-off outweighs the risk incurred for this CMU adoptions. Will definitely do further searching when i have time to feed my curiosity. Thank you Belinda, I appreciate your time and knowledge you have shared with me. Will also update you if I found anything. Han from Malaysia
As far as I can see, in Canada, bricks are really just a decorative element on modern houses, a bit like fancy tiles in expensive bathrooms. Traditional bricks don't serve any structural purpose anymore. If wealthy people want to pay skilled workers for fancy detailing on their monster homes, the whole point of such expensive detailing is that it does not look automated. Decorative brick laying is all about fancy curves and arches, which robots can't do. And architects and designers, can dream up new fancy curves allot faster than engineers can design robots to install them. Using traditional bricks on factories and schools just seems silly.
Well, I'll be... I had never heard of Nova Brik, but just this bit of a glimpse at the design and concept sure is interesting. I wonder if it will become popular as a genuine replacement for standard brick laying. The big question is whether the lack of mortar will work as well for sealing the wall against weather, bugs and air penetration. Are they in great use at this time?
Until a robot can replace a human it will be hard to account for all variables in construction. I think your on the right track, more innovation, less increasing efficiency of existing industry and methods.
@@BelindaCarr I didn't think you'd actually see my comment! I'd be very interesting in your take on it (as well as any other alternative forms of construction!).
Those interlocking bricks from Canada are only useful on timber frame houses. Timber framed houses in the UK are very difficult to mortgage with most lenders refusing to loan more than the value of the land. The abundance of timber in the States and Canada mean timber framed houses are common and accepted without stigma. I do see the benefits of them, fast construction, lower build cost and excellent thermal characteristic. I hope that one day they will become more acceptable but for now in the UK they are viewed as temporary buildings. It's a shame because our housing costs are high and there never seem to be enough available.
This type of technology can be expanded into a fully automated system, it only needs a few more iterations and AI systems. It could easily do the job of proper mortar consistency, and the only human "labor" would be to feed it raw materials, and that is not saying much considering that it could have a separate peripheral drive system to go "fetch" the materials from the supply drop-off (then humans only have to unload trucks into the supply zone). If advanced enough, when given a problem it doesn't know how to fix, an operator not even on site can use cameras and controls and feed it input to fix the issue.....that can be a learning process for the machine over time to fix its own mistakes of the same nature. This would be also a crucial step in space colonization, as we would need machines to build our "homes" before humans arrive....and it would need full autonomy. This is a plus.....and laborers should learn to program if they want to have a job. Adapt, die or go live with the Amish, is what I say.
It would be more efficient to leverage the strength of robots to place much larger "bricks". Bricks that one human couldn't lift, but a robot could. If a bedroom wall were made of 10 "bricks" and the robot could put them up in a few minutes, that would be a useful spot between 3D printing and laying small bricks, like the Hadrian X.
Why don't they make a machine that preps the bricks with mortar? I bet it would increase productivity if all the bricklayers have to do is set it down and clean it up. Give repetitive task to robots and give humans the hard part.
I believe a combination of both robotics and new technologies in bricks will become the future of bricklaying. Mortarless bricks being laid with a machine and maybe even tieing them to the wall would be much simpler than that stupid robot that you showed.
Give us a break, bricklayers will prevail, I haven't seen 1 robot system that lays mortar bed and perpendicular joints, also they all need skilled labour to finish off, making it look good in appearance
I don't think it's fair to say it Will lay 300 an hour and a man will lay 60 I've been a Mason for 45 years it's got to be some Fancy brick when I can't lay more than 60 brick an hour and that's tooling and cleaning up myself
Yah mortarless brick is faster. But there is nothing bonding the bricks together. And where is the rebar to give it structural strength. Cheap and fast isn't good if it comes at the cost of safety. Why can't a layer of brick be placed then a bead of mortar be placed at minimum?
I don't see novabrick's product or any other for that matter, challenging trad. bricklaying anytime soon. The secret to the persistence of the humble clay burnt brick is the river valley, the cradle of civilization; with abundant water, enough clay, decent amounts of firewood AND cheap labour at close hand. The traditional shape is optimised for easy replication, and the learning curve is more of a gentle uphill walk. It's also true that no amount of technology in the world can feed, clothe and house 6 billion souls. Esp with one third of them consuming at many times the rate as the rest. Waste is our problem, not the humble brick.
So the brick laying robot is A step in the right direction, except somewhat diagonal to the intended destination.. bit like laserdisc... the drive towards working out the kinks in this particular technology might loose it's momentum if and or when we abandon bricklaying for the equivalent or paralell method such robotic 3d printing. A tech that is being touted by many future tech pundits as the most likely method of automated construction to be employed by any serious attempts at colonising remote and distant places... like the Moon... or even Mars... A fine presentation... Thankyou.
@@BelindaCarr It lays many different brick shapes. Veneer bricks are only that shape to assist the human brick layer to move them into place. Large bricks are harder to move around. If a robot can lay large heavy bricks at ease then brick veneer can use larger blocks. ruclips.net/video/MgiNKYQjmbg/видео.html
Really, ignoring FBR in a Video about construction Robotics is either bad research or you have an agenda behind it. SAM1000 is a bad joke compared to FBR.
Brick laying is so slow and inefficient. It might have made sense in the past, when walls were actually made out of bricks, but spending hundreds of man-hours on a brick façade makes zero sense from any perspective other than aesthetic. I used to like the look of bricks, but my wife and I started work on building a new house and we were told we'd need a crawl space due to the grade we're building on, every time I see bricks, all I can think is "dang, that must have been expensive and taken ages"
Automation will displace everyone from forms of employment eventually, and it really should. Besides, only our species is stupid enough to rely on money. This channel is very groovy, you are entirely one of the better humans, even if A.I. will eventually take away your job too'. #VoteForAI (that's A.I., not Albert or Allen)
That is a horribly inefficient robot. The single arm is doing all the work which limits its speed, not to mention increases wear. The one from 1967 was better thought out and was blowing its doors off in speed. At half a million dollars it's not fast enough nor does it reduce labor enough to justify the expense.
I'm a mason myself and have done many brick jobs. You pretty much covered everything. This thing isn't going to put anyone out of work anytime soon and doesn't really solve a problem. As you said, we need better alternatives to traditional bricks.
How do you care for your shoulders and back? Do you pay for a massage or something?
@@StrangerHappened Laying clay bricks on a wall is nothing. I've laid 1000+ SqFT paver driveways everyday, 5 days a week, for 2 years. That's what killed my back.
And no I don't see anyone for my back or take medication.
@@HoomanPlays Too bad. Is not there better asphalt paving machinery for you to not do this?
@@StrangerHappened Rich people want expensive pavers for driveways and pool decks, plus I need the work
@@HoomanPlays Let's hope you will be able to change the type of job into something easier on the back.
I enjoy your intelligent presentation of these interesting topics.
Thank you!
FBR robotics, Perth Australia is building it's first 3 bedroom home today with it's truck mounted robot.
A friend of mine owns a paving company, the bulk of their income comes from paving brick parking lots and streets. A solid decade ago they bought a brick pavement laying machine. The machine isn't all that smart in what it can do, but if all you need to do is cover distance, it's very good at that. Some bits have to be done manually, but because those are done on the machine as well, there isn't near as much heavy lifting involved. The tedious job now is feeding oddball bricks into the machine, the bulk of the bricks are fed into a hopper by the pallet load with a front loader. No more sitting on the knees for 8 hours a day doing nothing but lifting paving bricks.
The only work that actually requires human labour now is the jobs that actually require skills, knowledge and thinking. Things that the machine can't do. Or the really small jobs where the machine won't fit. But for the most part that machine has taken over the back breaking tedious work and in doing so it has prevented people from going into disability by the time they hit 40 and has extended their productive career by 20+ years. And because the machine, a front loader and a lorry can do basically everything that a crew of a couple dozen used to do, it's also solved the problem of the decrease of people entering the field.
Same in the printing industry, I've worked at a printing company for almost a decade. In that time I saw a lot of boring or tedious jobs being shifted to machines. Machines became cheaper, more flexible and easier to set up. Very much taking the tedious work away from people. But again it's a field that fewer and fewer enter, having "cool" machines to work with actually adds appeal to the industry.
In the end the only work that ended up with people was the work that required skill, knowledge, and creative thinking. There's a lot of satisfaction to be had in making a small run of wedding invitations and seeing the customer be happy with what you've made. There's very little satisfaction in sleeving and addressing 21000 brochures because some company wants to send their marketing blurb on their latest product to their customers.
Of course there will always be the boring and tedious work that can't yet be automated or where automation is cost prohibitive. Sure, not all work can be fun.
And the same applies to that SAM 1000, it's a very expensive robot arm they've used there. For a machine that does such simple work, that can easily be replaced by a much simpler and cheaper mechanism. Or if they want to keep the expensive arm, they should put their Software Development department to work, because they are really under utilizing that. Same with the feeding of the machine. Mortar can be pumped, there is no reason why a human should be doing that. No one wants to do that. Same with bricks, slap a hopper on that thing so it can be filled by a front loader by the pallet load.
Sure it might not be able to cut a brick for a window or door opening. But that's the skilled, knowledge, creative thinking required part that most bricklayers probably don't mind doing. But it not being able to do corners I can see some truth in that, due to how a corner has to be laid, but if there were multiple robots that shouldn't be a problem.
the thing is, if you're just using brick as a cladding and not as a structural element, you may as well just ship huge panels from a factory and stick them in place (this exists). or just forget brick altogether.
Belinda, you do a great job on these presentations. You have the ability to take a subject like bricklaying and make it interesting. And, you do this with a clear, no-nonsense approach. Well done and thank you.
It's cool that we had bricklaying automatons that far in the past! Also cool how much it had in common with today's robot.
Nova Bricks look like a great idea, about time to look at improving things.
Will you be covering Prefab traditional single family homes? Structural Insulated Panels? The flat-pack homes we keep seeing demoed (but never actually deployed)?
Working on those videos! Thanks for the ideas, Kacey.
It bothers me that the 1967 brick-laying machine, and the bricklaying speed competitors were both skimpy with mortar on the headers; the human shown missed the headers completely. Someone would have to come by later and squeeze it in. I'm just a regular person who's not in construction, but surely you can't leave gaps like that? I found the way the modern machine spread mortar very satisfying. I could watch that all day :)
It's cool that you used a clip from Mike Haduck Masonry channel. Peppered within his masonry videos are discussions on building methods at archeological sites like Machu Piccu, Egypt ans Scotland. Even though it's not as polished, people that like your channel might like those discussions.
Once again another great video to get people thinking in the 'right' direction. Old school mindset may simply die with the old school alumni as it did in the hot metal printing industry. I'm 64 and may be one of them ;)
Thank you!
Very well presented. I couldn't help but smile when you said that it takes too much looking after, having to feed it and clean up after it. Relatable to any parent.
Excellent video. I ran across your channel a few days ago. It is so good I have watched almost every video on it. Tons of really good information. Keep up the good work.
Wow, thanks a lot!
Those nova bricks are cool
$500K is still a little cheaper than a union job. J/K unionists, don't burn my house down.
Brick laying is not the issue, the issue is that every single house is a custom construction. Even when built from the same design drawings. Buildings can not be compared to automobile manufacturing until they are the exact same.
Until people want to live in a GMC three bed room made of stamped steel and aluminum, we're gonna need carpenters and bricklayers.
Elon Musk may have different thoughts.
Yuor channel - which again, i stumbled upon by accident, keeps giving me fresh thought food everyday, and you do such a great job of always representing as best you can all sides of an argument or topic.
Much much success to you in the future!
I am not an expert in bricklaying.As a homeowner/architect wannabe,I can just say I love brick & the strength and beauty it provides. Hoping for a good solution so that bricks don't go "out of style".
I think automation of antequated/expensive techniques and technologys will be a big task in the coming 50 years nice video!
Beautiful video. I subscribed.
I am so happy you are touching subjects that are not known to many.Keep up your good work.
I agree. Look at a dishwashing machine. It does not wash dishes the same way a human does. Great video!
Well researched and well stated and a lovely presenter, thank you.
I’m a retired career mason/masonry instructor and while I acknowledge the fact that masonry is a dying trade I’m certain that traditional masonry will always have a niche moving forward.
Traditional masonry is highly labor intensive and because of that has become cost prohibitive so robotics may well help with that. But as you have already pointed out they shine on the long (money) walls which are less common, so we’ll see if they’re worth the cost. Also setting up a robot on a pristine flat factory floor or a construction job site are two very different things considering that the finished product has to be accurate to within millimeters.
I agree that mortarless products & methods while retaining an appearance will gain in popularity due to less cost & shorter time constraints.
And as I’ve said, traditional masonry will likely still have a place for those that can afford the real thing and want a fancier finish.
in germany i've seen clip in walls used and then a premade brick facade imitation glued on top for the brick look.
You are so right about the outdated construction industry.
I'm in no way associated with any architectural things but all these video's of yours are sooooo interesting!
Thank you!
Interesting question. Very well done. Primitive tech
i really wish the classic stile of masonry was more common. solid brick and stone buildings are so much more beautiful than the modern decoration brick. i say decoration because i can't spell fassod.
Facade. (or veneer) brick.
It's not really doing anything structural.
But it becomes a big problem if the structure inside is wood and starts to settle.
.... Or the weep holes clog and the sills rot out.
AMHIK...
Continue to enjoy your videos
The future of blocks might be in lightweight interlocking blocks that incorporate better structural and insulating properties than brick. They have been around for some years but there must be some drawbacks to them.
Are you referring to SIPS? I'll try to release a video on them soon.
@@BelindaCarr
No, they're large blocks. A composite insulated concrete form (ICCF)
ruclips.net/video/are1cHzyeWs/видео.html
@@Timzart7 they are local for me and I had no idea about them! Thank you for posting this because I'm in the suuuuper early stages of home buying and was thinking of building instead. I hate how the houses are built in Arizona typically lol like you can blow on them and they will tip over. I'll defo be looking into these guys
@@BelindaCarr I hope you do a video on this because these blocks seems super interesting
Wow you’ve really done your research I’m very impressed with the content I’m in the trade and you really got all the details down 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 are you sure you haven’t worked on a site as a brickie ha 👍🏻
I think the last take was interesting, to redesign the brick so that it essentially stacks and screws to the studs. I was also thinking of Mike Reynold's idea of using tires for cmus and tamping them full of earth and covering them with nails and adobe for his Earthships. Or the wine bottles that he cuts in half and tapes the two bottoms together to use for glass bricks to let light into the area. But those are also labor intensive. I was trying to think of a machine that would stack the tires and hammer them full of earth so that humans could do some of the less cumbersome work.
you should have a look at the Hadrian X robot being developed in Australia. It takes a different approach again and looks quite promising. Would be interested to see your take on it.
Hadrian X is absolutely my favorite. I personally consider him as best among all the innovative construction machines.
But Hadrian is used for basic walls of the buildings, SAM for the facade, so it would ideal to see both of them deployed, doing their task. And no, they would not put people out of work.
I was hoping you'd talk about 3-D printed buildings when comparing new automated technologies. There's a company in Austin, ICON, that builds by extruding a proprietary concrete mixture and bypassing the need for a brick altogether.
I'm hoping to visit one of their model homes in Austin soon!
Great Video, great points!
I got a Novabrick ad on this video
I noticed the rails. How much time effort and energy does it take to install perfectly aligned rails for this behemoth to go on?
Shades of the legend of John Henry.
hi! are there robots specialized to lay blocks without mortar to be filled with concrete or liquid clay? thanx in advance!
I just stumbled upon your channel and it's very interesting and gives a lot of ideas for innovation. Thanks !
Concrete pre built walls - hold my cement 😳
My thoughts are that 3D printing of some fast-setting, hard material is where the future is. I know there have been TeD talks on this in the recent past. Perhaps a stamped brick fascia could replace the traditional layered brick. I know it certainly LOOKS great when done well.
What material are you thinking of? A more eco-friendly version of concrete?
@@BelindaCarr Yes at least as far as the 3D printing goes. Something with at least some constituent of concrete but with a property not unlike expanding foam. I've no doubt it would be exothermic, so that may assist in curing time. Stamping can be done on a large scale with the forms themselves.
I am intrigued with your deep knowledge - curious to know which followed? was it science or building knowledge?
Have you seen the Hadrian X machine used in Western Australia?
Frankly the one from the 60's looks like it was more purpose built and practical, and put the bricks down faster than the more "modern" machine, which incorporates an extremely expensive multi-axis robotic arm and looks like more of a stunt than a real attempt at innovation, especially with that 1/2 million dollar price tag.
Belinda, have you done a video on the efficacy of tiny homes on trailers? I would love to know what you think about those if you haven’t done a video on that type of housing. If you have, please forward me the link; I didn’t see one. Thanks for so much insightful information on architecture. I want to build a tiny house (not with a shipping container😉), so I welcome all the insight you’re willing to provided.💚👍🏾
Thank you for the kind words, Teresa. I haven't covered that topic yet. I'll try to get to it soon!
Good video, thank you :-)
Hi Belinda, thanks for the video. Me and my friend loved your content so much.
I watched it twice to see if I missed anything. You had me thinking a lot about bricks this time. I can't help but notice the adoption of innovative modular bricks has yet to become mainstream. I tried to do some searching but maybe i'm searching the wrong keywords, I have yet to find any answers for it.
I was considering economies of scale to be one of the factors of modular brick adoption. So mind pointing me in a right direction so I can do further reading myself?
Thank you
Han
Thanks for the kind words! I made a video a while back on new structural CMU blocks ruclips.net/video/oPOSL3vxKCU/видео.html
I haven't found anything specific to economies of scale, but as soon as I do, I will send it to you. Thanks!
@@BelindaCarr I watched your video on CMU designs already. Would definitely love to try building a wall with Armo bricks one day!
As a quantity surveyor, i cant help but wonder what the costing would be like for this CMU bricks. What is the cost comparison between traditional clay bricks and this CMU bricks. Foreign labours from Bangladesh are really cheap in my country as compared to developed nations, so I suspected the cost trade-off outweighs the risk incurred for this CMU adoptions.
Will definitely do further searching when i have time to feed my curiosity.
Thank you Belinda, I appreciate your time and knowledge you have shared with me. Will also update you if I found anything.
Han
from Malaysia
As far as I can see, in Canada, bricks are really just a decorative element on modern houses, a bit like fancy tiles in expensive bathrooms. Traditional bricks don't serve any structural purpose anymore. If wealthy people want to pay skilled workers for fancy detailing on their monster homes, the whole point of such expensive detailing is that it does not look automated. Decorative brick laying is all about fancy curves and arches, which robots can't do. And architects and designers, can dream up new fancy curves allot faster than engineers can design robots to install them. Using traditional bricks on factories and schools just seems silly.
Well, I'll be... I had never heard of Nova Brik, but just this bit of a glimpse at the design and concept sure is interesting. I wonder if it will become popular as a genuine replacement for standard brick laying. The big question is whether the lack of mortar will work as well for sealing the wall against weather, bugs and air penetration. Are they in great use at this time?
FBR:ASX
Until a robot can replace a human it will be hard to account for all variables in construction. I think your on the right track, more innovation, less increasing efficiency of existing industry and methods.
Have you looked into Aircrete at all as an alternative to concrete for walls?
Only briefly. I'll look into it now. Thanks!
@@BelindaCarr I didn't think you'd actually see my comment! I'd be very interesting in your take on it (as well as any other alternative forms of construction!).
Have you looked at Fast Brick Robotics (Hadrian X)?
Very informative
Those interlocking bricks from Canada are only useful on timber frame houses. Timber framed houses in the UK are very difficult to mortgage with most lenders refusing to loan more than the value of the land. The abundance of timber in the States and Canada mean timber framed houses are common and accepted without stigma. I do see the benefits of them, fast construction, lower build cost and excellent thermal characteristic. I hope that one day they will become more acceptable but for now in the UK they are viewed as temporary buildings. It's a shame because our housing costs are high and there never seem to be enough available.
Would the 3d printed structures offer a better solution? They seem to be effective for smaller homes.
Maybe for very small buildings, but not for large schools and warehouses. Those are usually tilt wall buildings made of precast concrete panels.
The brick laying robot is interesting, but the nova bricks are impressive.
This type of technology can be expanded into a fully automated system, it only needs a few more iterations and AI systems. It could easily do the job of proper mortar consistency, and the only human "labor" would be to feed it raw materials, and that is not saying much considering that it could have a separate peripheral drive system to go "fetch" the materials from the supply drop-off (then humans only have to unload trucks into the supply zone). If advanced enough, when given a problem it doesn't know how to fix, an operator not even on site can use cameras and controls and feed it input to fix the issue.....that can be a learning process for the machine over time to fix its own mistakes of the same nature. This would be also a crucial step in space colonization, as we would need machines to build our "homes" before humans arrive....and it would need full autonomy.
This is a plus.....and laborers should learn to program if they want to have a job. Adapt, die or go live with the Amish, is what I say.
I agree with most of your views! Well said.
Wish I was still building my steel and straw designs. I would love to share them with you.
The ISP or factory made panels ( not volumetric solutions ) is way forward .
Large sections wall pre cast concrete panels.
looks like the 60s model is much simpler and just as fast and accurate
Yeah, I was surprised by how well that purely mechanical machine worked!
It would be more efficient to leverage the strength of robots to place much larger "bricks". Bricks that one human couldn't lift, but a robot could. If a bedroom wall were made of 10 "bricks" and the robot could put them up in a few minutes, that would be a useful spot between 3D printing and laying small bricks, like the Hadrian X.
Why don't they make a machine that preps the bricks with mortar? I bet it would increase productivity if all the bricklayers have to do is set it down and clean it up. Give repetitive task to robots and give humans the hard part.
I believe a combination of both robotics and new technologies in bricks will become the future of bricklaying. Mortarless bricks being laid with a machine and maybe even tieing them to the wall would be much simpler than that stupid robot that you showed.
I’m a mason myself the only masons that are gonna be laying 60-70 bricks an hour are the union guys
Check out fbr
why the fuck does this video only has 4k views?
Give us a break, bricklayers will prevail, I haven't seen 1 robot system that lays mortar bed and perpendicular joints, also they all need skilled labour to finish off, making it look good in appearance
I don't think it's fair to say it Will lay 300 an hour and a man will lay 60 I've been a Mason for 45 years it's got to be some Fancy brick when I can't lay more than 60 brick an hour and that's tooling and cleaning up myself
Yah mortarless brick is faster. But there is nothing bonding the bricks together. And where is the rebar to give it structural strength.
Cheap and fast isn't good if it comes at the cost of safety.
Why can't a layer of brick be placed then a bead of mortar be placed at minimum?
The robot can’t plumb, level or gauge the bricks 🧱 its pretty useless
I don't see novabrick's product or any other for that matter, challenging trad. bricklaying anytime soon. The secret to the persistence of the humble clay burnt brick is the river valley, the cradle of civilization; with abundant water, enough clay, decent amounts of firewood AND cheap labour at close hand. The traditional shape is optimised for easy replication, and the learning curve is more of a gentle uphill walk.
It's also true that no amount of technology in the world can feed, clothe and house 6 billion souls. Esp with one third of them consuming at many times the rate as the rest. Waste is our problem, not the humble brick.
So the brick laying robot is A step in the right direction, except somewhat diagonal to the intended destination.. bit like laserdisc... the drive towards working out the kinks in this particular technology might loose it's momentum if and or when we abandon bricklaying for the equivalent or paralell method such robotic 3d printing. A tech that is being touted by many future tech pundits as the most likely method of automated construction to be employed by any serious attempts at colonising remote and distant places... like the Moon... or even Mars... A fine presentation... Thankyou.
Check out fbr. Fast brick robotics, they have an automated solution
The Hadrian X, right? I think it only lays structural cmu, not brick veneer.
@@BelindaCarr It lays many different brick shapes. Veneer bricks are only that shape to assist the human brick layer to move them into place. Large bricks are harder to move around. If a robot can lay large heavy bricks at ease then brick veneer can use larger blocks.
ruclips.net/video/MgiNKYQjmbg/видео.html
Really, ignoring FBR in a Video about construction Robotics is either bad research or you have an agenda behind it. SAM1000 is a bad joke compared to FBR.
Brick laying is so slow and inefficient. It might have made sense in the past, when walls were actually made out of bricks, but spending hundreds of man-hours on a brick façade makes zero sense from any perspective other than aesthetic. I used to like the look of bricks, but my wife and I started work on building a new house and we were told we'd need a crawl space due to the grade we're building on, every time I see bricks, all I can think is "dang, that must have been expensive and taken ages"
The narrator of the 1960's film sounds like an Australian.
That was Bob Danvers Walker of Pathe news!
Mrs kootrherpalli has become Belinda Carr??🙄🙄
Very interesting video. Bricks are old fashioned with much better materials available now.
Please keep going 💪🏻 Belinda. 🏠 🌉 🏨 ✔
Nova Brick, mortar less is better wat to go.
"Shying away from manual labor"...lmao It's called LAZY.
I was wondering what Imao means.?
@@ericringler4784 laughing my a$$ off
@@Holler_Rat thanks 😊
mortar is to keep the bricks apart and aid the spreading of the load, it is not an adhesive
500k is rediculous.
Automation will displace everyone from forms of employment eventually, and it really should. Besides, only our species is stupid enough to rely on money. This channel is very groovy, you are entirely one of the better humans, even if A.I. will eventually take away your job too'. #VoteForAI (that's A.I., not Albert or Allen)
Especially when the money we print isn't backed by a physical commodity like gold, but only by debt!
@@BelindaCarr for sure on that one 👍
What? This exists?!
Ah, only barely. This thing sucks.
That is a horribly inefficient robot. The single arm is doing all the work which limits its speed, not to mention increases wear. The one from 1967 was better thought out and was blowing its doors off in speed. At half a million dollars it's not fast enough nor does it reduce labor enough to justify the expense.