Client Projects

The Gateway Expressway Project in Clearwater, FL is one of the largest Heavy Civil Construction projects in the history of the Tampa Bay region, and TyBot is returning to help enhance productivity, improve safety, reduce schedule risk, and increase profitability.  This megaproject includes adding two new 4-lane elevated tolled roadways and connections from US 19 to I-275 and from the Bayside Bridge to I-275 as well as the widening of I-275 to create express tolled lanes.

Prior to commencing work on Bridge 11 in August 2021, TyBot Integration Partner, Shelby Erectors, had already utilized TyBot to complete 275,000+ deck ties across 880,000+ square feet bridge deck for the project.

On September 14th, TyBot commenced tying operations on the $93.6 million PennDOT

I-95: Betsy Ross Bridge Interchange Project's BR2 Section in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. By utilizing TyBot to complete the bulk-tying of rebar intersections, LB Construction Enterprises, subcontracted by the General Contractor, Buckley & Company, looks to enhance its crew's productivity while improving safety and reducing overall days on-site.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Construction industry has burst into a flurry of activity as the most aggressive infrastructure spending initiative since the 1950s was signed into law on Monday. Combined with a skilled labor shortage, the $550 Billion bill calls into question whether contractors have the capacity to meet rapidly growing demand. Innovative contractors across the nation are turning to new technology for help. Robots as a new class of equipment are proving to be an effective complement to human crews and will be essential to completing the projects laid out within the infrastructure bill.

Woman-owned Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Shelby Erectors is an example of the effective usage of robotics on the jobsite to contractors across the country. Contracted for rebar installation on the 512,427 sqft I-95 Express Phase 3C project in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Shelby elected to utilize TyBOT by Advanced Construction Robotics to boost crew productivity. TyBOT, a rebar tying robot, leverages cutting edge artificial intelligence to tie together the rebar grid that commonly reinforces concrete surfaces. While TyBOT is actively tying rebar, Shelby’s laborers are free to handle more skilled tasks better suited for human hands.

Shelby stands tall in the industry as an example of how to adapt to modern challenges, and its President, Jennifer Nix, is positioning her company to meet the labor demands of the new infrastructure bill. “TyBot is definitely a lifesaver when labor availability is lacking. It provides a level of consistency that's difficult to match and is why we’re currently using it on 3 separate concrete bridge construction projects across Florida.” Nix says, “TyBot removes the repetitive, back-breaking work that can cause serious long-term injuries, and anything we can do to improve our crews’ health and safety is a huge priority for us. TyBOT allows us to safely stay on schedule while shorthanded and to move our workforce on to higher-skilled tasks or to another jobsite where they can be better utilized.” The I-95 Express Project has become a landmark in the application of new technologies on major infrastructure projects. It is among the first projects in the world to address the labor shortage with cutting-edge robotic technology.

ACR is excited to call Shelby Erectors our integration partner. For many years our co-founders have observed the industry and have watched the labor gap growing. With this new infrastructure initiative, the shortage is accelerating at an alarming rate. Co-Founder Jeremy Searock is seeing his vision for the company become reality, saying “ACR was founded for moments like this. Our robots will continue to solve today’s construction challenges assisting the workforce to meet rapidly growing demand, such as what will be generated from the infrastructure bill.” ACR believes robotics can and will come to the rescue of crews struggling to close the growing labor gap. In order to complete the Billions in new projects, partnerships like those between Shelby and ACR will be absolutely essential.

Nix says “As the labor gap in construction continues to grow with increasing demand, it is crucial to incorporate solutions like TyBot to mitigate the effects. We have found that TyBOT saves at least 25% on our rebar tying schedule. This provides a crucial edge when bidding projects, and project owners, typically DOT, often like to see innovative tech used. We will likely use TyBot on over half of our projects in the next 5 years.” The effectiveness of jobsite robotics on this project will be sure to be noticed as contractors scramble to address the flood of new infrastructure initiatives coming from Capitol Hill. The lesson is clear, useful robots are no longer science fiction. They are here and ready to do work today.

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A world-leading innovator of autonomous robotic equipment, Advanced Construction Robotics is transforming the construction industry by filling the skilled labor gap and increasing overall productivity. Our robots give construction firms the ability to meet a rapidly growing demand, improve safety, and reduces scheduling risks. TyBOT, ACR’s first product, is a rebar tying robot that self-navigates, self-ties, and does not require programming or build plan input from the working crew. TyBot’s partner, IronBot, will lift, carry, and install rebar when it comes to market in 2022.

Project Intro

The Koppel Bridge project was a $27 Million effort to replace the previous bridge. TyBOT performed bulk tying operations on this project in April of 2019 to assist the crews of Brayman Construction Corporation. The Koppel Bridge is located in rural Western Pennsylvania and serves as a crucial link between the towns of Koppel, and Ellwood City. It is a 4-span bridge that is 43 feet wide and 1,240 feet long. The new Koppel bridge opened in October of 2019.

Role in Project -

TyBOT® is an autonomous rebar tying robot that ties up to 1,000 intersections an hour. TyBOT deploys to any job site that has screed rails in place and will do the work of an average crew. TyBOT easily deploys anywhere in the country to work on horizontal reinforcing steel installation projects. TyBOT performed the bulk tie portion of the Koppel Bridge deck reinforcing steel installation for two out of the four spans of the bridge.

Description of Project -

The Koppel Bridge project, located in Koppel, PA, began in January 2017 and opened to traffic in October 2019. The bridge carries two 12 ft travel lanes and 8 ft shoulders. The deck of the Koppel Bridge consists of 1 million pounds of rebar and 6,000 cubic yards of concrete. The structural steel supporting the deck weighs approximately 4.3 million pounds.

Project Features/Advancements -

Manhour savings: 34%

Schedule savings: 34%

Brayman Construction Corporation (BCC) meticulously recorded production data for the deck reinforcing steel installation of the project so that this case study could provide meaningful results. While self-performing the rebar installation on two spans that did not utilize TyBot, BCC expended 20% of their total manhours on the bulk tie sub-activity that TyBOT would perform on the other two spans.

When TyBOT executed the bulk tie on these two spans, the data showed that BCC not only saved the expected 20% of manhours for bulk tying but also saved another 14% for a total savings of 34% of their budgeted manhours. These additional savings was attributed to a couple of different factors.

BCC chose to augment their deck rebar crew with TyBOT meaning they did not reduce the level of manpower performing the installation. Not having to perform the bulk tie sub-activity allowed the crew to focus manual efforts on the remaining sub-activities associated with deck rebar installation. This allowed these activities such as carrying and placing the rebar to occur faster and more efficiently.

The use of TyBOT also prompted the operations team to perform more pre-planning of the deck rebar work to ensure the time TyBOT was waiting on placed rebar to tie was minimized. Typically, deck rebar work planning is done in the field where the crew often reacts to the daily changes and challenges that are frequent on construction projects. When using TyBOT, the manual labor was very focused on planning the work to make sure that “the robot didn’t catch up to them”. This created a sense of competition between the robotic TyBOT and the crew, pushing the work along faster.

With BCC augmenting their crew with TyBOT, the project realized both a 34% manhour savings and a 34% savings in the duration of the work. Experiencing schedule and productivity improvements that result in manhour savings is a great example of the power of utilizing robots in construction. With widespread shortages in skilled labor, using TyBot to augment and not replace the rebar crew is the best way to accelerate projects, meet tough schedule constraints, and best utilize the skills of workers.

Who was/is Involved:

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation: CLIENT

Brayman Construction Corporation: MAIN CONTRACTOR

Advanced Construction Robotics: SUBCONTRACTOR

Awards

Associated Bridge for Construction & Design awarded the Koppel Bridge Project two awards:

(1) Outstanding New Major Bridge Award (Brayman Construction as the main contractor) (2) Outstanding New Special Purpose Structure Award for Permanent Sheet Pile Wall System – Brayman Construction (Brayman Construction as subcontractor & Trumbull as the main contractor)

In May, TyBOT set its 2022 tie record on the Gateway Expressway project alongside Advanced Construction Robotics Integration Partner Shelby Erectors. Tying 11,044 ties in a single shift, TyBOT averaged over 1,000 ties per hour on the day. The record takes the 9th position on our All-Time shift record list, with the #1 shift in company history clocking in at 16,000 ties (shift lengths vary).

Shelby Erectors CEO Jack Nix had this to say about the shift:

"A shift like this makes a real difference. When TyBOT is moving this quickly our crews are able to focus our full efforts on more complicated work. TyBot handling over 11,000 ties in a shift provides much-needed relief to us as our crews are pressured by labor shortages and schedules."
- Jack Nix, Chief Operations Officer, Shelby Erectors

Construction is in the midst of a labor shortage. Construction crews are being stretched thin and are struggling to meet schedules. The pressure has sent the industry in search of a safe solution to augment construction crews. Advanced Construction Robotics has brought TyBOT to construction to automate repetitive and injury-prone tasks. With TyBOT on the job, contractors are experiencing enhanced productivity, improved safety, reduced schedule risk, and increased consistency. TyBOT delivers these advantages using a Robot as a Service (RaaS) model. Contractors can achieve new heights in productivity with pricing that is wrapped up in an easy-to-understand per-tie price.

TyBOT has come a long way since it first hit the job site in 2017.  To date, TyBOT has completed over 2.5 million ties and has worked on 33+ job sites across the country. Years of field testing and refinement have created a powerful tool for augmenting the existing construction workforce.

“Shifts like this don’t happen overnight. Like a rodbuster honing their skills over time, this achievement is the result of years of real work on real jobsites. Our team of world class innovators is developing the future of construction equipment, and creating modern jobsites where teams of workers and robots work together to get the job done.”
-Jeremy Searock, Co-Founder, CTO & President, Advanced Construction Robotics

The Advanced Construction Robotics team is excited to continue to bring new and innovative products to the construction industry with our second product, IronBOT. IronBOT is a rebar carrying and placing robot that relieves the burden of the heavy lifting by self-placing up to 5,000-pound bundles of both transverse and longitudinal rebar.  Used together, the powerful solution of IronBOT and TyBOT will be able to increase productivity by at least 250%. IronBOT is in the final stages of development and will be deployed in 2022. The dynamic duo of TyBOT and IronBOT enables work to be conducted at a consistent and predictable rate that significantly exceeds industry averages.

If you think your job could be the location of our next tie record fill out an inquiry form on our contact page.

Read Engineering News Record's report here

A leading provider of robotic equipment, ACR is transforming the construction industry by filling the skilled labor gap and increasing overall productivity. Our robots give construction firms the ability to consistently meet growing demand, reduce scheduling risks and improve safety.  TyBOT®, ACR’s first product, is a rebar tying robot that self-navigates, self-ties, and does not require programming or BIM plan input from the working crew. TyBOT’s partner, IronBOT, will lift, carry, and place rebar when it comes to market in 2022. If you would like more information, please contact us at info@constructionrobots.com