It is a pilot project that will last

six months and at the end of that

period, Pomerleau's executives
will decide whether it is worth buy-

Robot dog ing two of them. They rented two

because they want to have one as a
backup in case there are problems
Bl~ tg1 r - 2

to replace with one of them.

For now, Pomerleau will have a
4 J>~ . ~fu·AI. ~
s'.affer accompanying the robot to

human at n ake sure everything is working

fine, but it can be preprogrammed
and wander the site on its own.

work site
"The primary goal is ensuring
the safety of our workers, for ex-
ample to detect if there is a danger
of something falling on them,'' said
Eric Lessard, chief digital officer
Its camera takes at Pomerleau. "But it will also
provideuswithareal-timechron-
500 photos a day 1 icle of the progress on our work
sites."
T/(l ~zJk ~/ot/ioio SEE ROBOT ON A2
BRENDAN KELLY

There will be a new type of work-

er on a Pomerleau construction
site in Quebec as of Friday, a most
unusual addition to the compa-
ny's staff. It's a robot named Spot.
Montreal-based Pomerleau says it
is the first company in the world to
use this robot on a daily basis on an
active work site.
The robot, which is just under
three feet high and weighs 70
pounds, will patrol the construc-
tion sites taking up to 500 photos
per day via a 360-degree camera
mounted on its back and other
cameras on its body. The photos
will then be automatically down-
loaded and sent to Pomerleau
managers at the end of the robot's
shift.
The camera is connected to a
documentation platform called
HoloBuilder, which allows the
Pomerleau executives to analyze
the work site's progress using vir-
tual design and construction soft-
ware. The photos can be used' to
t rack the progress of the project
and to see if it looks to be coming
in under or over budget, and ifit is
on schedule.
Pomerleau, one of Canada's
leading construction companies,
is renting two robots from Boston
Dynamics, a Massachusetts com-
pany that specializes in engineer-
ing and robotics design. Boston
Dynamics is known for creating
BigDog, a four-legged robot made
for the American military.
Executives at Pomerleau would
not reveal how much they are
paying to rent the two robots,
only saying it is a costly piece of
equipment.

Construction
firm says robot
will improve ·
safety, quality
ROBOT FROM Al
Until now, Pomerleau and other
construction companies have had
to hire someone to walk through
the sites and take the photos. So if
they end up buying the robots, it
will save them having to use em-
ployees to do the job.
Spot runs on rechargeable bat-
teries good for eight hours and has
sensors on all sides to help it avoid
bumping into things.
"There's three goals," said Debby
Cordeiro, vice-president of com-
munications and marketing at Po-
merleau. "The first goal is health
and safety ... The robot has the
ability to get into tight spaces and
go into areas that would otherwise
be more risky or more dangerous
for human beings. So being able to
look at how a particular element
~ }
Issac Charbonneau Beaulieu controls a robot that will be used to make 30 images and photographs of a work site
as part of a trial by Montreal-based construction firm Pomerleau. ALLEN McINNIS
\
has been installed in an area that's quality product and in order to do finding ways to innovate ... and
a tight fit or would otherwise be that we need to have good visibility this allows us to take the person
hard to access is a definite plus," over how the project is evolving. who would have otherwise been
she said. "(Also) being able to see Although we have staff that are walking around with a camera on
the pictures after the daily down- going around, this is just an extra top of their helmet and having to
load does provide additional in- pair of eyes. take these pictures manually, and
sight into which areas need to be "The third thing is, the con- now that person can analyze the
secured in a better way or what struction industry is transform- pictures instead of just managing
areas are already well secured. So ing itself, like many other indus- the input."
it's a good assessment tool. tries," Cordeiro said. "In fact, you Pomerleau would not reveal
"The second thing is quality," could argue that the construction which ofits construction sites will
Cordeiro said. "The other thing industry is one of the last indus- be hosting Spot on Friday.
that's very important in construc- tries to transform itseif from a bkelly@postmedia.com
tion is that we want to deliver a digital standpoint. That means Twitter.com/brendanshowbiz
-

Spot the robot walks the Pomerleau construction site in Place Ville Marie on Thursday. It's one of two rented
robots that are part of a six-month pilot project to monitor work progress using photos. ALLEN McINNIS