The Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics (CIIRC) of the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) together with Wienerberger A.G. and KM Robotics, Ltd. achieved a significant success in the prestigious international competition 2024 euRobotics Technology Transfer Award for development of an autonomous bricklaying robot entitled WLTR. The solution has been evaluated for the prestigious second place.
The euRobotics Technology Transfer Award competition is part of the European Robotics Forum (ERF, https://erf2024.eu/) standing for annual scientific and technological summit that awards the best results in technology transfer from academia to practical applications. The WLTR bricklaying robot project impressed the jury with its innovative solution to fully automated of clay blocks masonry, which has the potential to bring dramatic changes to the construction industry.
The WLTR bricklaying robot represents a robotic system that can autonomously perform brick masonry in 24/7 mode and follow a predefined building plan. The robot is capable of autonomous fetch and carry of the clay blocks and lay them with high accuracy and efficiency. This removes major physical efforts of the job and addresses labor shortages and even eliminates human mistakes and failures. Wienerberger has ambitious plans for the WLTR bricklaying robot future use. Already in this year, more robots from their first production series will be operational for multiple construction sites.
“We are extremely proud to have been assigned this prestigious award,“ says Libor Přeučil, project leader from the laboratory of Intelligent and Mobile Robotics (http://imr.ciirc.cvut.cz) at CIIRC, CTU. „This award confirms we hold a place in the field of advanced robotics and cybernetics and shows that we can conduct the both: to perform basic research but also compete in development of breakthrough technologies with a real impact to industry.”
The Technology Transfer Award 2024 is a significant recognition for CTU, CIIRC and its partners. It confirms that the Czech Republic is among the world leaders in the development of AI driven robotic technologies and that it has much to offer event to the global construction industry.
Project FW03010304, Research and development of a robotic system for automated masonry from brick blocks is co-financed with the support of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic within the TREND Program
