Eradicating human risk

The use of construction robots demonstrates their application possibilities not only in airport infrastructure, but also in other industries, said Duanmu Haiying, director of the Shanghai Meta-Now Metaverse Industry Promotion Center.

"This extensive application of robots of multiple brands and multiple types of systems will enable end-to-end connectivity across the data chain, further optimizing costs," Duanmu said.

Cao Qixin, a professor specializing in robot research at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said:"The construction industry involves highly complex workflows, and integrating multiple types of robots through an intelligent platform has significant importance."

Twenty-four robot models are currently being used in the terminal construction project. Based on their functions and applications, they are classified into three categories: on-site construction robots, construction management robots, and processing robots, Qin said.

Working in risky scenarios, they can perform highly difficult operations, eliminating the need for human workers to be directly exposed to hazardous environments such as high temperatures, toxic gases and flying sparks.

In complex areas such as the bird-shaped columns, elevated facade panels and skybridge truss structures, multiple welding robots can play important roles, Qin said. In traditional high-altitude operations, the aerial-work robots are capable of carrying out tasks such as coating surfaces and decoration, curtain wall water-spray testing, and cleaning maintenance.

"Civil aviation engineering has the highest requirements for safety and precision, so robots must undergo reliability verification in real-world scenarios," said Duanmu, adding the Shanghai project can serve as a model for the intelligent upgrading of infrastructure projects nationwide.

In highly repetitive tasks, robots are all-rounders capable of handling everything, including trivial chores. A security inspection robot, for example, has agile movement and can take panoramic images on a construction site, allowing management to view any alarming scenarios and on-site conditions in real time.

Another example is the cleaning robot, which can remove small stones and dust from construction floors via a fully automated operating system. The machine is capable of cleaning up to 500 sq m of floor area per hour.

As for underground work, the welding robots can reduce the workforce by 50 percent and improve efficiency by 30 percent.

"During the construction of Shanghai Pudong International Airport's Terminal 3, various robots were extensively used, particularly in floor leveling and steel structure welding," Qin said. "The use of robots also includes our on-site unmanned inspection management, as well as our backstage digital management matrix. The introduction of robots into the project has effectively transformed the construction process into advanced manufacturing and intelligent construction, and has improved the overall project's quality and standard," he added.