Science

Nailed it: Researchers unveil octocopter carpenter that attaches shingles to a roof using a nail gun


Nailed it: Researchers unveil octocopter carpenter that attaches shingles to a roof using a nail gun

  • Experts measured the pressure needed to deploy a nail from a nail gun
  • Attached the nail gun to a drone and taught the software the measurements
  • Drone uses markers to place nails and a virtual switch is activated to shoot nails

Unmanned vehicles could soon takeover the labor industry.

Researchers have unveiled an octocopter that attaches asphalt shingles to roofs using a nail gun and ‘virtual switch’.

This robotic carpenter’s software measures the force needed to compress the point of the nail gun and a human operator activates a virtual switch when the robotic carpenter is in place.

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Researchers have unveiled its roofing octocopter that attaches asphalt shingles to roofs using a nail gun and 'virtual switch'

Researchers have unveiled its roofing octocopter that attaches asphalt shingles to roofs using a nail gun and ‘virtual switch’

The roofing octocopter is the brain child of researchers at the University of Michigan, which is part of the movement to shift humans from ‘dull, dirty and dangerous job’ into ‘cleaner, safer and more interesting jobs’.

‘For me, the biggest excitement of this work is in recognizing that autonomous, useful, physical interaction and construction tasks are possible with drones,’ said Ella Atkins, a professor of aerospace engineering and robotics.

HOW WAS IT MADE? 

 The team used a system of markers and stationary cameras to enable the drone to precisely locate itself in space and the system was also used to tell it where to place the nails.

To fire the gun, researcher first had to determine the force needed to compress the point of the nail gun.

Software was then created to enable it to apply the necessary force and the team uses a virtual switch to activate the gun when the octocopter is in place.

The drone is also equipped with a camera that transmits what it ‘sees’ back to a computer for researchers to place nails in the correct spot.

Drones have been staffed with mostly surveillance jobs, but according to Atkin, researchers are looking to add more physical tasks to their to-do lists – and that is where this robotic carpenter comes into play.

The team used a system of markers and stationary cameras to enable the drone to precisely locate itself in space and the tell it where to place the nails.

To fire the gun, researcher first had to determine the force needed to compress the point of the nail gun.

Software was then designed to apply the necessary force and the team uses a virtual switch to activate the gun when the octocopter is in place.

The drone is also equip with a camera that transmits what it ‘sees’ back to a computer for researchers to place nails in the correct spot.

‘Initially, we tried using faster approach speeds to minimize nailing time,’ said Matthew Romano, a robotics Ph.D. student and first author on the paper submitted to the International Conference on Robotics and Automation. 

‘However, for those attempts, the nail gun tip often bounced off the roof, which meant it either wouldn’t trigger or it would trigger in the wrong place.’

A system of cameras and markers is more complicated than a roofing drone would actually need

A system of cameras and markers is more complicated than a roofing drone would actually need

However, Atkins argues that it is already as fast as she and her spouse were when they put the first nails into the house they re-roofed as graduate students.

‘A novice roofer—who’s never climbed on a roof, who’s never used a nail gun—they start out slow. That learning process, the evolution from them being a complete novice to being successful, is something that we’ll need to see in this system as well,’ she said.

 

In addition to speed, the team identified other improvements that would be needed for a practical system. First, it should be powered by tether rather than battery. Because both batteries and nail guns are heavy, the system can only run for a little more than ten minutes at a time. A tether would enable it to run indefinitely. And with an air line running alongside the power cable, the nail gun could be a more effective pneumatic model.

The robotic carpenter's software measures the force needed to compress the point of the nail gun (pictured) and a human operator activates a virtual switch when the robotic carpenter is in place

The robotic carpenter’s software measures the force needed to compress the point of the nail gun (pictured) and a human operator activates a virtual switch when the robotic carpenter is in place

Also, a system of cameras and markers is more complicated than a roofing drone would actually need. 

Shingles are marked with a shiny adhesive strip, in addition to the color difference between the exposed surface and the portion that lies beneath the next layer of shingles.

‘It would be pretty easy to have a camera system mounted on the octocopter that understands both the orientation of the shingle and its position,’ said Atkins.

A paper on this work, titled, ‘Nailed it: Autonomous roofing with a nailgun-equipped octocopter,’ is submitted to the International Conference on Robotics and Automation and is posted to the arXiv preprint server.

 



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