In 122 AD, Hadrian decided to fortify what was then the Roman Empire in far off Britannia with a wall. It measured 80 Roman Miles long, 15-20 feet high and 10 feet across. The wall took 6 years to build. and it still stands today. Flash forward almost 2000 years and a new Hadrian exists, but he is not an imperial emperor, Hadrian X is a brick layer--a robotic mason. This machine has the capability of laying up to 1,000 bricks an hour the equivalent of which would take 2 human labourers an entire day to complete.. The one armed robot can work in extremes of weather. It needs no breaks and operates 24/7 with and minimal human assistance. Hadrian X is the latest large scale building device by FastBrick Robotics (FBR:ASX), a company that is based in Western Australia. and currently trades at A$ 0.21 Operating on a platform similar to CAD design and 3-D print execution the robot reads the plan and systematically erects the structure rendered. Accuracy is maintained by laser sensors that ensure a higher degree of specificity than any human can offer. The materials used are not your common mason’s bricks and mortar. The building block is a composite material. It can be sized to suit any project eliminating waste as well as allowing for massive constructs using building units difficult for workmen to move without machinery. The adhesive used to cement the bricks and seal the construct is a polymer..which is both environmentally safe and offers advanced thermal properties making it resistant to the elements. Speaking to Michael Pivac, CEO of Fast Brick Robotics is quite enlightening. When queried about the geometry that the Hadrian X robot could construct, he assured us that vaults, domes and archways were within Hadrian X's repertoire. The only piece the robot would need assistance with would be placing the oculus, the top piece of a dome into position. Caterpillar Inc. announced a $2 Million investment in FastBrick Robotics in July, with an additional $8 million Memorandum of Understanding if approved by shareholders. The Kingdom of Saudii Arabia has also entered into a non-binding (MoU) Memorandum of Understanding, to be the first global adopter of the Fast Brick technology to start construction of 50,000 homes to be completed in 2022. Additionally, Fast Brick has met with NASA to contemplate the possibility of building in Space—one brick at a time.- ---Liz Levine http://tinyurl.com/y9vkj4tf
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Authors:Robert Kennedy Archives
December 2022
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