Computer aided design software for designing a building or other structure of brick construction, where in addition to the usual three dimensional modelling and rendering typical of CAD software, tabular data describing the spatial location and orientation of each brick is provided, including information regarding which bricks are cut to length so as to be shortened, and where they are located along each course, and which bricks are machined, drilled or routed for services or other special fittings. Data pertaining to this is compiled in a database for access by control software to control a brick laying machine to build a building or other structure from bricks. The database may receive via interface with a scanner data being a measure of the elevation of the footings and/or concrete pad that has been constructed according to the building plan and for each brick of the first course, to determine how much material must be machined off the bottom of each brick so that when the first course is laid, the tops of the bricks of the first course are at the same level. This machining data is stored for each brick with the tabular data produced by computer aided design software, so that the control software can control the brick laying machine to machine and cut each brick as per the stored data, and convey each brick to the stored position on the footing, pad or previously laid course of bricks, with application of adhesive prior to positioning of the brick.

A system for applying a tile adhesive, including: an adhesive supplying device for supplying the tile adhesive on a surface of a tile, including a nozzle for emerging the tile adhesive and a pump unit for pumping the tile adhesive in the direction of the nozzle; and an automated supporting and moving device, in particular robot, for supporting and positioning the tile with respect to the nozzle so that the tile adhesive is distributable onto the surface of the tile when emerging from the nozzle.

An apparatus for applying adhesive to a tile comprises a container for receiving the adhesive to be applied to the tile. The container defines a downwardly-opening orifice through which the adhesive is enabled to pass out of the container. The apparatus further features a substantially horizontally extending track coupled below the container and adapted for supporting the tile in sliding movement underneath the orifice from an inlet side of the orifice and past the orifice to an outlet side thereof so that the adhesive received in the container passes out of the orifice and onto the tile.

A control system is described for a base supporting a telescoping articulated boom assembly indicated generally at 15, comprising long telescopic boom 17 and telescopic stick 19. Mounted to the remote end 21 of the stick 19 is an end effector in the form of a head 23 that supports a 6 axis robot arm 25 that moves a further end effector 27 to manipulate the items. The robot arm 25 has a robot base 31, and mounted above the robot base 31 is a first target in the form of a 6 degree of freedom (6 DOF) high data rate position sensor 33, that provides 6 DOF position coordinates, relative to a fixed ground reference 35, to a control system. Mounted on the end of the robot arm 25 immediately above the end effector 27 is a second target in the form of a 6 degree of freedom (6 DOF) high data rate position sensor 37, that provides 6 DOF position coordinates, relative to the fixed ground reference 35, to the control system. The fixed ground reference 35 tracks the sensor 33 and feeds data to the control system to move the head with slow dynamic response within range of work for the robot arm, and tracks the sensor 37 to control movement of the robotic arm 25 and end effector 27 with fast dynamic response.

Computer aided design software for designing a building or other structure of brick construction, where in addition to the usual three dimensional modelling and rendering typical of CAD software, tabular data describing the spatial location and orientation of each brick is provided, including information regarding which bricks are cut to length so as to be shortened, and where they are located along each course, and which bricks are machined, drilled or routed for services or other special fittings. Data pertaining to this is compiled in a database for access by control software to control a brick laying machine to build a building or other structure from bricks. The database may receive via interface with a scanner data being a measure of the elevation of the footings and/or concrete pad that has been constructed according to the building plan and for each brick of the first course, to determine how much material must be machined off the bottom of each brick so that when the first course is laid, the tops of the bricks of the first course are at the same level. This machining data is stored for each brick with the tabular data produced by computer aided design software, so that the control software can control the brick laying machine to machine and cut each brick as per the stored data, and convey each brick to the stored position on the footing, pad or previously laid course of bricks, with application of adhesive prior to positioning of the brick.

A prefill tool for finishing wallboard joints is provided for finishing a wallboard joint, and includes a box assembly defining a hopper, having a top wall and a front wall constructed and arranged for engaging the wallboard joint. The front wall partially defines a gate dimensioned for dispensing joint compound stored in the hopper. Also, the gate is located on a skid plate mounted on the front wall, the skid plate having a main portion, and a gate portion partially defining the gate being displaced from a plane defined by the main portion.

A system for performing interactions within a physical environment including a robot base that undergoes movement relative to the environment, a robot arm mounted to the robot base, the robot arm including an end effector mounted thereon and a tracking system that measures a robot base position indicative of a position of the robot base relative to the environment. A control system acquires an indication of an end effector destination, and repeatedly determines a robot base position using signals from the tracking system, calculates an end effector path extending to the end effector destination at least in part using the robot base position, generates robot control signals based on the end effector path and applies the robot control signals to the robot arm to cause the end effector to be moved along the end effector path towards the destination.

A distributing device (10) for distributing liquid, pasty or viscous adhesives on plates, in particular adhesive sides of plates, and more preferably tiles which may comprise different sizes. The distributing device (10) comprises a base element (11) and two guide elements (13), such as lateral guide elements (13), for guiding the plates. The distributing device (10) comprises a distributing element (12) for distributing the adhesive on the plates. The distributing element (12) is directly or indirectly connected or connectable to the base element (11). The distributing device (10) comprises a receiving area (14), a guiding area (15) and a removal area (16) for receiving, guiding and removing the plates.

The present invention relates to a method for laying tiles (2) on a laying substrate, in which, initially, tile adhesive (8) is applied to the laying substrate and the tiles (2) are subsequently laid in the tile adhesive (8), characterized in that, before applying the tile adhesive (8) to the laying surface, leveling strips (5) of the same height are affixed so that the top faces of the leveling strips (5) lie in a common reference plane, and in that the tile adhesive (8) is applied between the leveling strips (5) with some protrusion which is then, using a screeding board (9) guided along the top faces of the leveling strips (5), removed down to the level of the reference plane, generating a flat tile adhesive layer (11).

A system for performing interactions within a physical environment including a robot base that undergoes movement relative to the environment, a robot arm mounted to the robot base, the robot arm including an end effector mounted thereon and a tracking system that measures a robot base position indicative of a position of the robot base relative to the environment. A control system acquires an indication of an end effector destination, determines a reference robot base position, calculates an end effector path extending to the end effector destination and repeatedly determines a current robot base position using signals from the tracking system, calculates a correction based on the current robot base position, the correction being indicative of a path modification, and controls the robot arm in accordance with the correction to move the end effector towards the end effector destination.