A Robot for Levelling and Compaction of Concrete

The modern attempt in the construction industry is to reduce and replace heavy labor and messy activities with ergonomic methods. Placing and compaction of fresh concrete on a building site is one of such areas. Today it is difficult to recruit young people for this kind of work. For the future it will be necessary to make this heavy work easier. It has to be more attractive for the coming generation and to compensate for eventual shortage of skilled workers. High-quality concreting involves also securing of a dense, outer skin of a concrete for protecting the entire construction against corrosion and erosion, for promoting higher durability. Repainting of bridgedecks by placing a new upper concrete layer often requires external surface vibration and revibration. A robot has been developed to travel on the fresh concrete surface, externally vibrate the concrete, density this outer skin and smooth this surface. This Rollit Robot can move itself through the area of freshly placed concrete on the building site. A prototype has been used for repairing bridgedecks with advantage. The project is supported by the Swedish Work Environment Fund and by the selected contractors.