Last Friday, BCA in partnership with The Singapore Contractors Association Ltd (SCAL) and other industry partners, curated a knowledge-sharing session on R&A at BCA Braddell Campus. The session was graced by Senior Minister of State for National Development and Digital Development and Information, Mr Kiat How Tan.‍

Robotics and automation help to make work sites safer and more productive, said Tan Kiat How.

BCA chief executive Kelvin Wong said the adoption of robotics and automation is important for the construction industry to remain resilient against a declining labour force. He shared how the R&A landscape in the construction industry has rapidly evolved over the last one year, and how productivity improvement remains a key thrust in tackling manpower shortages and improving our global competitiveness. He also encouraged event participants to be part of this R&A journey, to further boost construction productivity and drive transformation.

Speakers from GREAT RESOURCES M & E CONTRACTOR PTE LTD, Tanglin Corporation and Obayashi Construction-Tech Lab Singapore also shared their experiences in deploying R&A solutions like drilling and anchoring robots as well as electric skid loaders in construction projects. The event also showcased live demonstrations of latest R&A solutions from Fabrica AI, Nanjing Zhuling Technology, CSC Ro‍botic Engineering Limited, SHIFTECTONICS, Biscuit.AI, TAG INDUSTRIAL PTE LTD, Googol Robot, WEIBUILD, Nanjing Legend Robot Technology, Fulltime Robotics, and Tanglin Corporation.

A robot that can lay concrete and tiles automatically is also being used in a public housing project here.

Nanjing Zhuling Technology’s chief operating officer George Liu said the robot takes 1½ minutes to lay a tile, compared with four minutes to five minutes a tile if done manually.

The robot costs $100,000 and has four cameras to ensure a gap of 0.5mm between tiles, he added.

However, workers have to manually tile the edges of a room due to the tiles of different size.

There are schemes in place to encourage the adoption of such technology.

BCA’s Productivity Innovation Project scheme co-funds up to 70 per cent of the costs for adopting technology that improves productivity at construction sites.

The authority’s Built Environment Accelerate to Market programme also provides funding to local start-ups, and small and medium-sized enterprises to quicken the progress of innovative solutions to commercialisation.

Source: The Straits Times, Building and Construction Authority

Editor: Co-worker_liuhengzhi‍‍‍