Autonomy on the jobsite
When it comes to autonomously navigating a construction site, there are many challenges present. There are a variety of obstacles in the way, ongoing work, active foot traffic, and dynamic changes happening daily. When considering all challenges it becomes a rather difficult problem to solve, leading most to believe it will be years before a solution exists. However, Nextera’s team of incredibly talented engineers from MIT, CMU, Harvard and other prestigious robotics and engineering schools have taken the challenge head on. Through several years of research and development efforts - Nextera has found success in designing a mobile robotics system capable of autonomously navigating any job site.
Didge's complete onboard autonomy enables robots to navigate almost any terrain, climb stairs, and avoid people, equipment, obstacles, and holes. The robot's navigation "brain" resembles that of a self-driving car, relying on an array of cameras, depth sensors, lidars, inertial measurement units, and motor sensors. It is created using data collected over thousands of hours of driving inside active construction sites.
But why is an autonomous robot useful? Several reasons really, but the main ones are to improve the image quality and AI insight results by consistently capturing high-quality data at the same exact location week after week, and for operational efficiency. The robots are programmed to operate as a fleet, where they use AI to schedule and command robots to navigate a jobsite to make sure every corner is covered as efficiently as possible, with not human effort needed. They start on their own, navigate to each point, climb between floors, and park for recharging when done.
Being able to “leave and forget” the robots to do the site capture frees up project teams for more important aspects of their job, all while maintaining a cost-effective way of having someone else, or in this case something else perform this tedious work.
The robots are long-range, able to run for up to 6 hours off of a single charge and are extremely reliable compared to many other solutions like that a of a legged robot. Didge was designed to be robust and durable to effectively operate in the harshest of conditions found on a construction site. Other solutions have a variety of pitfalls that can create hazards and consistent inoperability such as much shorter battery life, constant risks of falling over, or colliding with objects.
Didge uses a military-grade mesh network infrastructure to maintain robust communication within the entire area of a construction site. Through only 3-4 radio units the robot is always able to stay connected to the cloud and other robots on the jobsite. In the event of any blind spots, the robots can simply move to relay network signal operating as a “swarm” at all times with other robots present at the site.
All of these sub-systems and design characteristics are how Didge is able to go beyond other robotic solutions and offer a complete solution to autonomous navigation on a jobsite. For more details on this technology, please reach out to us here: Contact Us — Nextera Robotics