A group of
people had gathered at a construction site in Vantaa, Finland, on February 25,
2019. On the floor of a large room, a robot was blinking lights, apparently
waiting for instructions on what to do next. This was the first test of an industry-grade
cleaning robot for construction sites.
The test
was the culmination of an experimental project that NCC started in May 2018. Its
goal was to develop an automated solution for keeping a construction site clear
of dust, which is a big problem and potential hazard for workers and equipment.
Present at the
Murata Electronics’ factory extension site were representatives of four
organizations: NCC, Pulurobotics, Palmia, and the Department of Computer
Science at the University of Helsinki. Each one of them had a specific role in
the project.
Kimmo Kärkkäinen, NCC’s project manager, had seen in his
earlier projects how inefficient cleaning could be. “It has been frustrating to
see how a person cleans a half-hectare hall manually with a big broom,” he
says. “There are small vacuum robots and ride-on sweepers, but I’ve not seen a
robot of this size and with such capabilities before being used for cleaning.”
When NCC
learned about what Pulurobotics had already done in robotics, they decided to
start a KIRA-digi experiment with them. KIRA-digi is a national project that advances
digitization of the built environment by funding fast trials. Palmia joined in
as a provider of cleaning services and the University of Helsinki as a user
interface development partner.
The Robot That Can
Maneuver Autonomously
“Pulurobotics started out as a solution to a very tangible problem,” says Miika Oja, a cofounder. “We have a warehouse in Tampere that needed a telepresence robot. In 2016, none existed that could survive the uneven floors and obstacles in the space. Arno Munukka and I developed the first prototype. It was not perfect until we ran into Antti Alhonen, a programmer who could help it become autonomous.”
The
prototype that was under scrutiny at the Murata site is the 12th version. It is
the size of a 600 x400 DIN box, lying flat on four wheels. It has ten sensors
on its sides, indicator lights in each, and a vacuum cleaner on top of the
body. In front, there’s a wide nozzle for the vacuum.
As the
robot moves around the room, it cleans the dust from the floor very well. You
can clearly distinguish where it has been by the spotless streaks in the
otherwise dusty areas. If the robot detects a person or an object in its path,
it will stop immediately and try to go around the barrier. The sensors can
“see” in three dimensions, covering 360 degrees horizontally and 110 degrees
vertically.
The
prototype’s vacuum cleaner is a €65 appliance that is not optimized
for battery use. That’s why it exhausts the 1.3-kWh battery in under two hours.
Without the power-hungry tool, the robot could drive for days, carrying a
110-kilogram load.
Mechatronics and Software
Make a Robot
Building a
robot is a cross-disciplinary endeavor. Pulurobotics got help from the airplane
industry to rivet the aluminum body. They developed a motherboard that has all
the electronics in one unit. They developed unique ToF (time of flight) sensors
that use visible and infrared light to map out the environment. Even
psychologists gave tips on how to make the robot interact with humans.
“The
biggest challenge in the project was the mapping software. The device can scan
the space accurately but combining the scans into a coherent model is still
difficult,” Antti Alhonen admits. As
a result, the floorplan of the scan is slightly skewed on Alhonen’s laptop
screen. Using BIM as a reference could solve the problem.
The robot’s
software has around 40,000 lines of code. In addition, the team of the
University of Helsinki developed an interface for setting up the cleaning
areas. Their software tells the robot how to cover an area efficiently. The
robot receives instructions and sends back data via Wi-Fi. It could as well be
a 3G/4G connection that makes remote operation possible.
A Robot as a Platform
Cleaning is
just one of the many uses for the robot. Harri
Luuppala, chairman of the Pulurobotics board, explains, “Instead of
developing a robot for a specific use, we decided to build a robotic platform
on top of which you can add any application or functionality.”
The project
team has already come up with many ideas. The robot could have an arm that can
lift things up and move them around. For example, it could stack furniture
before cleaning and place it back afterwards. It could also rearrange items in
a room to change the layout.
The robot
could be a personal helper on a construction site, following a craftsperson and
carrying the tools. With cameras attached, the robot can photogrammetrically
scan spaces and create as-built documentation of the site. At nighttime, it
could serve as a security guard.
The Robotic Future
“A robot
like this will improve safety, quality, and efficiency on the site. When the
floors are clean, nobody dares to be messy on the premises,” Kärkkäinen says. “We’re
definitely looking forward to a finished product from Pulurobotics.”
The
provider is ready to take on the challenge. Luuppala mentions that they have
already ordered parts for 50 robots. Industrial cleaning robots could be among
the first commercial applications of the platform. The price of a robot could end
up around €5,000. Robots with similar features
typically cost between €30,000 and €50,000.
Fabian Fagerholm is a researcher at the University of Helsinki
and speaks enthusiastically about use-inspired research. He thinks that one of
the most significant gains of this project has been the network of
professionals it has created.
Fagerholm’s
team is building a software architecture that serves robotic development. “At a
construction site, you’ll need a swarm of robots. They could convene at a command
center, download their instructions, and move to their respective locations to
do the jobs autonomously,” Fagerholm envisions.
Palmia
provides, among others, cleaning services in southern Finland. For them,
robotics is a strategic question. “Robots are one of the few ways left to
improve a cleaner’s productivity,” says Riku Moisio, the CIO of the company. He believes that today’s consumer
grade robots can soon evolve into useful industrial tools. Moisio points out
that robots will be very efficient for certain clearly defined functions, but
not a panacea that will make humans redundant.
Luuppala
says that Pulurobotics has not patented their technology. Their software is
open source and can be used at places such as schools that want to develop
robots on their platform. Pulurobotics and the KIRA-digi project have shown
that you can develop world-class technology without the $100 million funding
that competing firms typically have at their disposal.
“Finland is
already the land of Linux. We want to make Finland the land of open-source robotics,”
Luuppala declares.
For more information about the project, contact
Kimmo Kärkkäinen at kimmo.karkkainen(at)ncc.fi.
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