To help construction companies combat with the manpower shortage due to the COVID-19, Weston Robot has developed various solutions including material handling robot within the construction site, inspection and patrolling robot for daily progress reporting, disinfection robot, and exoskeletons for construction workers to reduce the fatigue, and increase the work productivity.

Picture:  Minister of State for National Development Kiat How Tan Trying Out Exoskeletons for Fatique Reduction

Construction sites are normally unstructured environments and construction jobs often take place at different heights, thus making robot automation a very challenging task. In developed countries such as Japan and USA, where there the majority (if not all) portion of construction workers are local employees with different ages, assistive exoskeletons are widely used. Depending on the job requirements, back support exoskeleton (e.g., backX), leg/knee support exoskeleton (e.g., legX) and shoulder/neck support exoskeleton (e.g., shoulderX/neckX) are widely adopted to help workers reduce fatigue and improve the work productivity. In Singapore, we see the trends of adopting exoskeletons in constructions amid of the COVID-19.

Picture:  Shoulder Support Exoskeletons (shoulderX) for Over-the-chest Jobs

Picture:  Back Support Exoskeletons (backX) for Body-Bending Jobs

Picture:  Leg/Knee Support Exoskeletons (legX) for Frequent Squating Jobs

Although automation is a very challenging task at construction sites, we do slowly roll out robotics solutions for some relatively easily automated jobs, for example, material handling using our tracked robots within the construction sites (automation is not needed), daily patrolling and progress reporting using our robot dogs, and disinfection robots with our robot base Hunter.

Picture:  Weston Robot's Material Handling Robot and Inspection/Patrolling Robot Dogs

Video: Minister of State for National Development Kiat How Tan Trying Out Exoskeletons for Fatique Reduction