Clearpath Robotics is a global leader in unmanned vehicle robotics for research and development. It provides hardware, software and services to enable self-driving vehicle development, deployment and operation. Clearpath works with over 500 of the world’s most innovative brands in over 40 countries, serving markets that span industrial materials handling, mining, military, agriculture, aerospace, and academia. Clearpath is an award-winning company with recent awards, including Robotics Business Review Top 50 Company, Edison Award for Innovation, Business Insider Top 40 under 40, and Canada’s Top 100 Employers.
Clearpath Robotics is a member of the Automated with Velodyne™ program.A construction site is an extremely busy, fast-paced and interconnected environment. With specific building instructions and deadlines to meet, having a clear overview of the project is paramount. Since it is virtually impossible to keep track of the hundreds of thousands of variable elements on a construction site, progress tracking was typically accomplished with very sparse spot checks. These processes lead to costly construction errors due to misses or delays in detection, which subsequently results in very costly rework.
Barcelona-based Scaled Robotics, a Clearpath Robotics customer, saw the opportunity to provide a beneficial service that has previously not existed in the construction industry. They are aiming to digitize construction, employing unmanned ground vehicles (UGV). Scaled Robotics is using Clearpath Robotics’ Husky UGV and Jackal UGV, both equipped with Velodyne Puck™ lidar sensors, as a base for their autonomous construction verification. Their technology provides contractors the ability to keep track of their construction projects in real-time.
The Scaled Robotics solution provides construction project managers and other stakeholders with instantaneous feedback about the state of construction projects. Velodyne lidar plays an important role in helping the mobile robots autonomously navigate around construction sites and capture valuable 3D data about the current state of projects. The mobile robots employ SLAM technology that utilizes lidar’s data to operate at construction sites that are partially closed environments where GPS cannot be accessed. Velodyne Lidar is designed to perform in the high-stress environmental conditions found at worksites like wind, rain, snow and ambient lighting issues.
About 20 percent of construction costs are the result of fixing errors. The Scaled Robotics solution helps companies prevent costly mistakes by quickly localizing errors and resolving them before they have very expensive downstream effects. It minimizes rework by automating worksite progress monitoring with autonomous mobile robots.
Using a Velodyne lidar sensor in the solution allows Scaled Robotics to deliver an accurate, high-resolution comparison of the digital model to the current worksite state. This enables construction managers to closely monitor progress and identify problems before they become costly expenses. Scaled Robotics clients have voiced strongly positive feedback on the contributions of Clearpath unmanned ground vehicles on the worksite.
We have been recommending and integrating Velodyne lidar products on our robotic platforms for almost a decade. Velodyne sensors have proven to handle challenging automation tasks and flawlessly function in unfamiliar and unpredictable settings
Velodyne’s lidar sensors are designed for seamless integration with robotic platforms by being easy to mount, having low-power consumption and including a web configuration tool. They are meticulously designed to perform in high-stress environmental conditions like inclement weather, which is essential for outdoor deployments.
The Clearpath solution, equipped with Velodyne lidar, provides the best research-grade mobile robot on the market that allows for rapid prototyping and quick integration.
