wiredInUSA February 2018

Funding is tied up

The US company that invented a concrete rebar-tying robot has received $4 million from investors to commercialize the machine, which promises to automate a tedious and labor-intensive part of heavy construction. The TyBot uses a robotic arm, rigged to a gantry crane, to find rebar junctions and attach a tie before a concrete pour, potentially saving many hours of back- breaking labor on bridge and other construction projects. TyBot, a development from Advanced Construction Robotics (ACR), is expected to be available in spring 2018, and produced by the ACR subsidiary TyBot LLC. Investors are said to include heavy civil contractors, equipment dealers and a labor union.

activity that is becoming harder to staff amid a nationwide scarcity of skilled labour. Replacing an entire rebar-tying crew, the robot needs just one technician to monitor quality and reload the tie wire spool. “In bridge construction, contractors often bid for work without knowing where their deck crew labor will come from, despite it being a critical path activity that can trigger costly liquidated damages for projects that run past completion deadlines,” the company said, adding that TyBot “Works continuously, day or night, rain or shine, and without breaks or injuries.” TyBot services will be leased to the heavy civil engineering market from March this year, and in 2019 unitswill be solddirectly to contractors and specialist rebar installers.

ACR claims the TyBot puts an end to a laborious, unpopular and accident-prone

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wiredInUSA - February 2018