Another major policy for construction robots, fierce competition in the trillion-dollar market

Recently, Suzhou Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau issued the "Suzhou 2023 Intelligent Construction Promotion Work Points", which pointed out that construction robots should be applied first in pilot projects :

Starting from May 2023, government-invested housing construction projects with a single area of ​​more than 50,000 square meters should be the first to try out mature construction robots; by the end of 2023, all housing construction projects with a single area of ​​more than 50,000 square meters in the city will use construction robots to assist in construction.

It is understood that Suzhou became one of the 24 smart construction pilot cities in the country in November last year. It will carry out a three-year pilot project and actively explore the experience of using smart construction to promote the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry.

A few days ago, in order to solve the problem of pricing for intelligent construction, Suzhou Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau just issued the "Supplementary Quota for Intelligent Construction (Construction Robots)", and introduced supplementary quotas for four robots, including leveling robots, trowel robots, spraying robots , and ALC wall panel installation robots, which solved the pricing problem of promoting the application of construction robots, and will first promote their application in pilot projects.

Construction robots will shine in future infrastructure projects of all sizes. Today, the aging population is intensifying, and more and more young people are avoiding such "dangerous, complicated, dirty and heavy" construction jobs. Public data show that the average age of construction workers in my country is as high as 50 years old. Labor shortage will become the primary problem of the construction industry, and automated operations represented by construction robots will become an inevitable choice.

Construction robots replace heavy manual work

Construction robots are actually not that new. They have been developed and applied as early as the 1980s. Starting from Japan, South Korea, the United States, Germany and other developed countries, the number of construction robots has grown rapidly. This is inevitable when the economy develops to a certain stage, and now my country has also reached this stage.

For example, the SAM semi-automatic bricklaying robot developed by the American company Construction Robotics has a complete system including a conveyor belt, a mortar pump, a nozzle and a robotic arm . It can use algorithms and sensors to measure the angle and direction of the building and lay bricks accurately. The speed can reach 3,000 bricks per day, which is three times that of ordinary workers.

Domestic companies such as BOSI Robotics have previously demonstrated floor grinding robots that can skillfully perform grinding, autonomous vacuuming, follow-up line laying and other construction operations without the need for human intervention throughout the process. The work efficiency is as high as 300 square meters per hour, which can save about 30% of the overall cost compared to traditional construction. Currently, BOSI Robotics has 33 construction robots put into commercial use, serving more than 600 projects, with a total delivery of more than 1,700 units and a cumulative construction area of ​​more than 10 million square meters.

Construction robots can improve the efficiency and safety of construction workers. Since robots can automatically perform various construction operations, construction workers can spend more time on other tasks, thereby improving the productivity of the entire construction site. In addition, robots can also reduce the labor intensity and risk of injury of construction workers, because robots can complete bricklaying work without requiring construction workers to stand or bend for a long time.

In recent years, relevant departments have successively issued a number of guiding documents to accelerate the reform, development and transformation and upgrading of the construction industry. For example, the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Construction Industry" issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development last year clearly stated that it is necessary to accelerate the coordinated development of intelligent construction and new building industrialization, improve the intelligent construction policy and industrial system; consolidate the foundation of standardization and digitalization ; promote digital collaborative design; vigorously develop prefabricated buildings; create an Internet platform for the construction industry; accelerate the research and development and application of construction robots; and promote green construction methods.

The vast market for construction robots is beyond imagination

In the "Robot+" Application Action Implementation Plan recently issued by 17 departments, construction has become one of the top ten areas of robot application. It is clearly stated that it is necessary to develop robot products such as measurement, material distribution, steel bar processing, concrete pouring, floor and wall decoration and renovation, component installation and welding, and electromechanical installation, to promote the expansion of application space for construction robots and help the coordinated development of intelligent construction and new building industrialization.

China's construction industry is huge. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the gross output value of the construction industry has continued to expand over the past decade. From 2012 to 2021, the total output value of my country's construction industry has continued to rise from 13.7 trillion yuan to 29.3 trillion yuan, and the added value accounted for as much as 7% of the gross domestic product; in 2021, the national construction industry's housing construction area was 15.75 billion square meters, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%.

However, my country's construction methods are still very backward, and digital applications account for a very small proportion. Statistics from the China Construction Association show that China's investment in building informatization accounts for only 0.08% of the total output value of the construction industry, while developed countries in Europe and the United States account for about 1%.

In the past, my country's construction industry developed in a completely extensive manner, and many companies were focused on grabbing land and making a fortune. However, in the past two years, with the overall economic development falling short of expectations and the continued rise in residents' debt ratio, the construction industry has taken a sharp turn for the worse, with profits becoming increasingly thin. The need to reduce costs and increase efficiency through technological upgrades has become increasingly urgent, which will drive the accelerated development of construction robots, and the future development potential will be beyond imagination.

Earlier, Zhang Xiaohong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said that in the next step, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will focus on five aspects: implementing smart construction pilot demonstration creation actions, accelerating the promotion of building information modeling technology, and vigorously developing prefabricated buildings. It will further promote the coordinated development of smart construction and new building industrialization, promote the transformation and upgrading of the construction industry, and strive to achieve a proportion of more than 30% of newly built prefabricated buildings by 2025.

At present, more than 20 provinces in the country have introduced support policies and subsidy system standards related to prefabricated buildings, which have given the green light to the development of prefabricated buildings. It is estimated that the scale of my country's prefabricated building market will exceed 1.6 trillion yuan in 2025. Increasing the research and development and application of construction robots, effectively replacing manual labor, and carrying out safe, efficient and precise production and construction of building components have become hot spots for industry development.