In this video I show how to take a spreadsheet of ~1700 piles for a single panel of a large solar project and sort the data into files necessary for a solar farm piling project that will potentially use the Trimble Groundworks system on the piling machines and the CIVRobotics Layout Robot for laying out the pile plan for shakeout operations (laying out the piles of the right types (color coded) in the right places.
The following video shows and discusses the robots dominant color process for Pile Shakeout operations. Each point for layout has an SWP (Special Way Point) color. The machine can be programmed to use one of the colors as the “Dominant” color. All other colors like the Pinks or Blacks etc. that have fewer points are then considered “special” colors. The machine pauses after spraying the spot, awaiting the operator to review the tablet screen to determine the color needed at the location. He can then accept the info and the robot goes off on its way to the next point. the operator can retrieve a Blue Top or Red Top or whatever color flagging is needed and push the flagging into the ground and then catch up with the robot that is continuing its process pf layout. The video shows the higher accuracy, low ground clearance machine, not the high ground clearance machine above (used for Shakeout operations).
If you would like more information on the CIVRobot - Click the link below to download a PDF overview
CivDot_.pdf (140.6 KB)
I see a lot of opportunities for the CIV Robots in Parking Lot Layout, Floor layouts, foundations layout and for road work where we need to keep survey crews out of harms way. At RPS we are investing in development of tools that connect TBC / Trimble to the CIV products to help them pave the way for this awesome technology - call me for more details if you are interested.
The pile plan has numerous pile shapes and lengths depending on the purposes of the piles and once setup can be delivered as stakeout points to the CIVRobot in its own format along with the color coding information so that as the points are automatically staked, the operator with the robot can push in a nail with colored flagging of the right color into the paint spot center. This way the shakeout crew can deliver the correct pile (Shape and Length) to each pile location ahead of the piling machine, eliminating problems of that type from the process.
The pile plans for all of the piles are created - in this process I used Excel and TBC functions to import the point data, sort the point data into layers based on color codes, and then use the point data to create pile plans for each shape and length / color of pile. The pile plans can be combined into a single plan if necessary, or can be output as a pile plan for each type of pile to be piled into position.
The pile plans can then be delivered to the piling machines running Groundworks and to the CIV Robot at the same time.
While working the piling machines record a quality record for each Pile placed and that can be imported into TBC on the back end of the process for comparison of the As Built with the Design and a quality report can be generated directly.
The results of using these systems always show a huge improvement in time and error reduction in both the Shakeout process and the piling operation. You are also assured of complete quality data that shows the overall results of the process. Existing users provide feedback that you can expect savings of 35 to 50% plus when using these systems in production.
If you contact the CIV team be sure to say that we sent you there way
Hope that this is helpful
Alan