Think about a 2.4-ton robotic arm wielding a six-foot-seven (2-m) round sawblade with a 12-foot (3.7-m) attain, slung onto a truck-mounted hooklift system for simple transport. It is as terrifying as it’s awe-inspiring. That is Sensible Manufacturing’s newest creation, constructed on the again of Kuka’s KR Fortec 480 Extremely and known as the Catonator.
It is a 6-axis, 4,850-lb (2,200-kg) totally electrical, battery-powered slicing machine that may slice, cube, and julienne rock and concrete with 0.1-mm precision. It will probably additionally carry as much as a 660-lb (299-kg) payload, and its modular toolhead permits simple switching between sawing (with both a 1-m or 2-m noticed blade), drilling and bending instruments to deal with quite a lot of jobs from tunnelling to shipbuilding.
The Catonator has a complete suite of sensors that always feed again to the onboard computer systems. Machine studying algorithms optimize its high-torque electrical spindle to regulate blade pace and slicing paths, to be able to effectively deal with every job whereas reducing put on on the blade for longer durations between replacements. All of this information is fed via the Sensible Manufacturing dashboard on a pc and even to a smartphone, the place operators can maintain monitor of all the things.
Operators can management the machine by way of a wi-fi joystick distant, or the sensible saw-wielding robotic will be preprogrammed to run a process routinely. Due to this, the forklift-sized scalpel can go from truck to slicing in a fraction of the time conventional strategies would take.
However what does it do?
The Catonator can change explosives on job websites – no permits wanted as a result of no kaboom, making it safer, sooner, and extra environment friendly.
In comparison with typical demo methods – jackhammers or blasting with det twine, PETN, TNT and the like – the Catonator can reportedly reduce via rock, concrete, and even metal as much as 10 instances sooner whereas being considerably quieter, with much less mess and fewer disruption. And since it is 100% electrical, it is clear sufficient to run in confined areas with out poisonous diesel fumes.
The Catonator is provided with a 360-degree LiDAR that acts as a security bubble, stopping operation if an operator or different impediment will get too shut … to keep away from any messy “incidents.”
A revolutionary robotic answer for the development trade known as the “Catonator”
The Catonator is the brainchild of Cato Sørheim, seasoned demolition and concrete-cutting pro turned robotics pioneer. Because the founder and proprietor of Sørheim Riveservice AS, Sørheim has spent just a few a long time on the frontline of business demolition, dealing with all the things from tunnel jobs to large-scale concrete elimination gigs. And now with the Catonator, he is merged hands-on expertise with cutting-edge (no pun meant) robotics to create a cleaner, sooner, smarter different.
There are no off-the-shelf items on the market but and there is no point out of how a lot considered one of these beasts prices, however I think about the insurance coverage premiums financial savings alone would make it properly definitely worth the funding.
Supply: Kuka
