When we’ve talked about construction robotics in the past, it’s mostly been about really large machines working on exterior structures, like this brick-laying robot, or this self-driving track loader. A technology institute in Japan is busy working towards bringing robotics to the interior finish side of the construction world with the development of a drywall installing robot.
The HRP-5P, as the Research and Development Institute of Advanaced Industrial Science and Technology (…whew, we’ll call it AIST after this) is calling the robot, is a nearly 6 foot tall (182 centimeters), 222 pound humanoid laborer. This latest robot was born out of another robot that was meant for disaster response. Although that earlier generation robot could handle difficult terrain, it lacked the correct amount of joints in order to simulate human activity.
As you’ll see in the video, the HRP-5P isn’t going to set any land speed records. It’s very precise and methodical in its movements. It’s also fairly limited in its abilities right now, as it follows a specific series of operations using various sensors and other operations. Perhaps the coolest thing is that the robot can recognize different tools, such as the drywall screwdriver in the video, and pick it up using augmented reality.
The Japanese institute explains that their reasons behind the development of the robot is to combat against Japan’s declining birthrate and aging of the population, which are expected to cause a major workforce shortage for the country.
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