Seeking Expertise for Research on Electrical Contractors

M

max.albert

Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Student
Hello! My name is Max, and I’m a student at Rutgers University conducting research to understand the needs of electrical contractors. As part of a team of engineering students, I’m exploring how robotics can be used to support contractors by working alongside their crews to improve efficiency, profitability, and safety.

To gain a well-rounded perspective, I’m reaching out to industry professionals to learn more about the challenges they face. While I’ve spent a lot of time on job sites (my father is a general contractor), my direct experience with electrical installation is limited, so any insights you can share would be greatly appreciated.

If you’re able to spare 5–10 minutes to complete a short survey, it would mean a lot to our team. I'm linking the survey in the comments below!

Thank you in advance for your time—I’m looking forward to learning from everyone’s responses. If you'd like to follow along with our research and technology development, feel free to provide your contact information at the bottom of the survey, and we'll send you updates along the way :)
 
max.albert said:
exploring how robotics can be used to support contractors
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Robot would need a crew of support engineers following it around, training it for unfamiliar tasks, for when it got stuck, or dropped tools & screws.

Not likely useful for service work, ladders, crawl spaces, and less repetitive tasks.

Any robot so coordinated would be in demand for hazardous duty, on the front lines of war zones, and in danger of getting stollen.

Any contractor that could afford such a robot could make more money re-tasking it to rob banks.
 
A robot mouse that has a camera, is remote controlled, drills holes, and can take a pull string where you want it to go to pull wires would be awesome. Needs to be able to climb the inside of walls and fit through a standard size electrical box hole.

Also need a bigger version to go into tight attics and crawlspaces.

Most importantly, it needs to be red or orange.
 
I want a robot to fill out the reams upon reams of required documents to bid PW jobs, so I can do the actual work.

And then handle all the paperwork while the job is ongoing. And shuts up and does what it’s told while working for me. 👍
 
NEC Inspector said:
A robot mouse that has a camera, is remote controlled, drills holes, and can take a pull string where you want it to go to pull wires would be awesome. Needs to be able to climb the inside of walls and fit through a standard size electrical box hole.

Also need a bigger version to go into tight attics and crawlspaces.

Most importantly, it needs to be red or orange.
Click to expand...
This is a great idea. We are strongly considering designs for a robot that can perform wire pulls through conduits in larger, open spaces. Would a smaller robot that can navigate tight spaces and take direction from an operator be of greater value on your job sites?
 
Seven-Delta-FortyOne said:
I want a robot to fill out the reams upon reams of required documents to bid PW jobs, so I can do the actual work.

And then handle all the paperwork while the job is ongoing. And shuts up and does what it’s told while working for me. 👍
Click to expand...
Lots of folks are requesting a similar service to automate paper work. Must be a real pain in the ass. Good thing about robots is they're obedient.
 
A spider-like robot made with a carbon fiber exoskeleton with all kinds of sensors on it would be cool. It could climb around electrical equipment and test voltages, techs could see what's up without putting themselves at risk. Include infra-red camera along with regular video. Remote controlled, but with enough on-board AI that you can give it directions instead of "driving" it. Just make sure to programs the three laws into it.
 
Robots are okay but AR would be a huge step forward for helping communicate planning intents to those who are doing the work.

Plans, prints, revisions, etc. can muddy up communications between trades, engineers, architects, etc. Corrections are expensive and normal way of life in construction. Sometimes the discussions around those corrections can take a long time and increase the cost of a project just from needing to get things reengineered. Project coordinators try to reduce that possibility but AR could drastically improve that. It might not move the needle on small projects though.
 
max.albert said:
This is a great idea. We are strongly considering designs for a robot that can perform wire pulls through conduits in larger, open spaces. Would a smaller robot that can navigate tight spaces and take direction from an operator be of greater value on your job sites?
Click to expand...
Having a robot that can pull wire through a conduit would have its uses, but if you already have a larger open space and a conduit you are well ahead even without a robot.

I would be far more interested in something that can go into framing cavities and help install wiring where there was nothing before in retrofit cases. As an inspector, I am in the position of sometimes having to make people fish wires because they forgot a smoke alarm somewhere (or similar). Aside from that, owners are always changing their mind and wanting to move stuff after drywall is on. Then you have old existing buildings where you are adding circuits and don't want to disturb finishes.

A device that allows for work without removing drywall (or original lath and plaster... talk about opening a can of worms) would be incredibly valuable. Comparing such a device to a device used with conduit and space is the difference between making something possible and making something easier.

A mouse robot might not work as good as a snake robot...
 
I also just thought of this.

A robot that can dig without breaking pipes would be HUGE for utility projects. Digging in the street is one of the more expensive things you can do. The gas utility will require someone to babysit, the water or sewer pipe gets hit and things are expensive to repair and cutting fiber lines is a nightmare.

Or maybe a robot that can dig around the clock.

Or a robot that can repave the freeway. I know we need that in California lol.
 
I dunno, I could see using robotics to calculate bends for conduit runs, like machines that bend exhaust pipes. And maybe some sort of laser/ optical system to plan out the runs. "Robotics" (rather than a modular robot) would spit out and label the conduit pieces in a shop and then use dummies would install them.

Actually I HATE the idea. I would bend conduit "for food."
 
I could also see robotics used for simple wiring like receptacles, especially for pre-fab homes. Probably use robot friendly outlets and receptacles that just plug into each other.
 
max.albert said:
Hello! My name is Max, and I’m a student at Rutgers University conducting research to understand the needs of electrical contractors. As part of a team of engineering students, I’m exploring how robotics can be used to support contractors by working alongside their crews to improve efficiency, profitability, and safety.

To gain a well-rounded perspective, I’m reaching out to industry professionals to learn more about the challenges they face. While I’ve spent a lot of time on job sites (my father is a general contractor), my direct experience with electrical installation is limited, so any insights you can share would be greatly appreciated.

If you’re able to spare 5–10 minutes to complete a short survey, it would mean a lot to our team. I'm linking the survey in the comments below!

Thank you in advance for your time—I’m looking forward to learning from everyone’s responses. If you'd like to follow along with our research and technology development, feel free to provide your contact information at the bottom of the survey, and we'll send you updates along the way :)
Click to expand...
If you are getting paid to collect data on such a ridiculous idea- i applaude you...
 
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