We recently added a new member to the team in the form of "The Tiny Surveyor" a three-wheeled robot advertised as "The world’s fastest robot for stake-out" saving time (and backs) on 200km of set-out

It is well understood that set-out surveys require high levels of precision and accuracy. So critical is the need for accurate set-out that the timeframe is often just accepted for what it is. This is where automation comes in.

Our crews working on a major rail project in Queensland have been achieving remarkable efficiency setting out marks to align the sleepers and rail for over 200km of track using the Tiny Surveyor Robot.

This is a line marking tool that integrates with a GNSS receiver or total station and accurately marks the guidelines for track laying and sleeper laying machines with standard marker spray. It travels along at a good clip (jogging speed for most of us) and sprays the marks as it goes to RTK accuracies.

Our team is excited to use it on line-marking work for road construction jobs as they know it will save hours of back-breaking work. We are also busy exploring the benefits of other automated technology for setting out and how we can save on time without compromising accuracy.

Check out the time-lapse video below of the robot marking part of a 4km section along the alignment that was completed in less than an hour.