At Boston Dynamics we’ve spent the last 20 years developing robots that operate in a variety of harsh terrains and environments. We’re launching Spot as a platform to collect data and interact with the world in ways you couldn’t before. In construction, there are tools and algorithms to make the building process safer and more efficient, but these tools need data to be successful. Spot’s data can feed into an ecosystem that gives developers access to orders of magnitude more information to work with. Already our partners are combining Spot with custom payloads and tools like Revit, Trimble Connect, or BIM360 to gain insight into construction progress.

Seamless Project Tracking

This week HoloBuilder announced the launch of SpotWalk, an integrated app that enables users to teach the robot a path through the construction site that can then be automatically documented by the robot. The spherical images collected will be organized and managed in HoloBuilder’s enterprise-ready web application and analyzed using SiteAI, HoloBuilder’s artificial intelligence engine. SpotWalk is a first of its kind application and will be available to selected early adopters of Spot starting this week.

“Time and accuracy are two things that are very important to a jobsite. Traditionally, you would have to sacrifice time out of a busy day to harvest jobsite pictures and organize them.” says Andrew Cameron, Project Manager at Hensel Phelps. “This partnership between HoloBuilder and Boston Dynamics removes a time-consuming step while providing accurate construction photos with a high degree of fidelity.”

Automating Laser Scans

At Autodesk University FARO will be discussing how automation can be used on the project site for greenfield and brownfield projects. Specifically, FARO will illustrate how working with partners such as Boston Dynamics can help bring further solutions to AEC professionals to aide in the overall efficiency and production lifecycle. By combining autonomous robotics with 3D laser scanning technology, we can potentially revolutionize the way documentation and data gathering is accomplished while maintaining a simple and easily integrated workflow. All this is a step forward in minimizing errors as they happen while also increasing automated real-time information sharing for all collaborators.

“With the partnership between FARO and Boston Dynamics we are dramatically closer to meeting our customers’ demands for making scanning in construction an autonomous operation” states Scott Diaz, Director of Business Development, AEC, FARO Technologies, Inc. “This will be FARO’s first live demonstration to show intent to meet customer and industry demand.

Closing the Loop

This week Trimble announced its collaboration with Hilti and Boston Dynamics. Equipped with Trimble and Hilti’s reality capture devices as its payload and in direct communication with a cloud-based construction management application, Spot will be able to provide consistent output, deliver improved efficiency on repeatable tasks and enable up-to-date as-built data analysis. Spot’s autonomous, terrain-agnostic capabilities support the dynamic nature of the construction environment, enabling the robot to by-pass obstacles and maintain its defined path to support routine tasks such as daily site scans, progress monitoring, asset management, and remote support. Multi-directional communication between the robot, Trimble and Hilti’s payloads, and the cloud application support a continuous flow of information and closes the loop for the construction environment.

“Utilizing robots for routine tasks in hazardous environments to improve safety, efficiency, and data capture consistency is part of our digital transformation vision,” says Aviad Almagor, senior director for Mixed Reality and Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) at Trimble. “We are excited for this latest collaboration and looking forward to the integration of our hardware and software solutions with the Boston Dynamics’ Spot Robot to enhance field-oriented workflows, reduce amount of rework, and facilitate on-site tasks.”