RFID Tags

[bruto]

A good point and an extension of what I said. Indeed one need just go down to the local building supply yard and look at their pallets of structural brick. At the two within walking distance of where I sit I know that each pallet at both places has at least one damaged brick. It occurs in transit or in loading and unloading from the trucks. Now this time of year all they have is what did not sell this summer so the number of damaged compared to undamaged bricks may be higher than at peak construction season (difficult to get mortar to set at -22^oC ) but the principle remains the same. One would have to include a certain number of replacement bricks with the 'kit'.

One need not arrange these 'kits' on pallets so that each one gets used in precise order. There already exists a system that computes what will be needed and where and when as long as the original plans are correct. Its called experienced bricklayers and masons. People with more know how than could ever be programmed into a computer, especially in the case of having to work around problems such as faulty or damaged bricks.

About all that technology could do to speed things up would be to also produce partial bricks in the manner that would be needed during construction and eliminate the requirement that the masons cut full bricks. However is it faster for an experienced person to take a full brick and cut it than it would be for that person to go to the partial brick pallet and get a pre-formed part brick? The cost of labour and time to completion is probably more important than the cost of a few extra bricks.

I've never done any bricklaying other than a few spot repairs, but have watched some masons working, and I am guessing they would be more efficient cutting (more like controlled breaking) bricks as they go. Remember too that if you break it properly, you get to use the other half later too.

I can certainly see the possibility of tagging bricks by the pallet for inventory control, but I somehow doubt that it would help much to go any finer than that.

 

[h.g.Whiz]

its faster and safer to design the building with out any cuts(other than the halves), and also feasible, I have seen jobs that consist mostly of glass block ,which are impossible to cut and still be able for use

 

[Giggywig]

I have an idea. design the structure as whiz suggests, as a really large 'kit' and then you will know how many bricks each wall will need, how many partial bricks will be needed in corners,,,, and then send pallets with the right number of bricks and preformed partial bricks and let the bricklayers build the structure from the 'kit' plans.

I just saved the company thousands of dollars over the cost of buying bricks that tell you where they need to be by rfid tags.

RFID tags are not going to help alleviate any problem with incomplete plans that show a metal wall when it should be a brick wall since your RFID system relies on the plans in the first place.

Easy, make the plans like model airplane instructions, witch diagrams of how to place each brick. It shouldn't take more than a few volumes to build an outhouse.

 

[gumboot]

I don't know about anyone else, but the idea of a brick layer picking up a brick, having it beep at him, putting it down, picking up another, and so on, until he finds the next brick for the wall, frankly that image just had me laughing hysterically.

-Gumboot

 

[h.g.Whiz]

on the brick the bricks of course


but it wont be long before the question becomes what products do not have rfid's.
i figure kids of the future wont be able to jack from their parents vice versa

Excuse me I meant to say kids won't be able to do jack without their parents knowing"possibly vice versa depending on who is the superior computer intelect between the parents and the children

 

[h.g.Whiz]

What do you think quarky ?

 

[CaveDave]

over bidding 20,000 units means we got paid to lay 20,000units with out actually having to lay them underbidding 20,000 means we laid 20,000units for free.

I laid a lot of "units" in my day, but about two orders of magnitude less than that.

And I never bid these "jobs" or expected payment.



D.

 

[Foolmewunz]

Excellent bump, Gumboot. Might could be a legendary thread.

I also love the idea of the bricks telling the mason whether they're in the right position. But beeps are so user-unfriendly. Talking bricks would be even better, and they could put in the language from Baby First "Find the Acorn". Instead of beeping, as the mason moves along the tier where he thinks that particular brick, the little nano-rfid-speaker thingie would say,

Cool
Cooler
Cold
Very Cold
Ha ha, you're freezing!
Little warmer.
Warmer.
Very warm.
Hot.
You're burning up!!!
Yaaaaay! You found it!

That'd speed up the old construction process, fer shure! Just do that about 88,000 times and you'll have your wall in no time flat.

And think of what it'd do for child labor! Kids would just love it, and instead of hiring pesky old union guys, you could just get the 6th grade class at Ryerson Elementary to come do it as a game after school.

 

[GreyICE]

Actually it could make assembly of emergency shelter and stuff quite easy. People are assuming that we need to individually number the bricks for some retarded reason, but as best I can tell that's the result of stupidity. We need merely to label the ones that are the same type. No one cares which "type A" brick you get (probably cinderblock for this, actually) just that you got one.

Imagine plopping down three units to triangulate the location in 3-space, then having step by step instructions that logically progressed from step to step when you had done it properly. Three location units, a stack of bricks, a laptop with bluetooth and a bunch of specialized MP3 players with headphones later, and you can turn 10 unskilled laborers into 10 decently skilled emergency shelter builders.

Of course in HG whiz's world, this is obviously to allow people to track the locations of houses, but in reality, this is an interesting technology, and I wish people would try and THINK a bit.

 

[Foolmewunz]

Actually it could make assembly of emergency shelter and stuff quite easy. People are assuming that we need to individually number the bricks for some retarded reason, but as best I can tell that's the result of stupidity. We need merely to label the ones that are the same type. No one cares which "type A" brick you get (probably cinderblock for this, actually) just that you got one.

Imagine plopping down three units to triangulate the location in 3-space, then having step by step instructions that logically progressed from step to step when you had done it properly. Three location units, a stack of bricks, a laptop with bluetooth and a bunch of specialized MP3 players with headphones later, and you can turn 10 unskilled laborers into 10 decently skilled emergency shelter builders.

Of course in HG whiz's world, this is obviously to allow people to track the locations of houses, but in reality, this is an interesting technology, and I wish people would try and THINK a bit.

Or you could give 'em four photocopied pages which would fold up and fit in their pockets and go anywhere with them. Admittedly, it doesn't sound as cool as projecting holograms and stuff, but it'd get the job done. I've probably assembled an entire household of furniture from IKEA one piece at a time, using just that single page that comes in the box.

 

[GreyICE]

Or you could give 'em four photocopied pages which would fold up and fit in their pockets and go anywhere with them. Admittedly, it doesn't sound as cool as projecting holograms and stuff, but it'd get the job done. I've probably assembled an entire household of furniture from IKEA one piece at a time, using just that single page that comes in the box.

So four folded pages coordinates a 10 man team, assigning people to each job and dynamically changing them as the jobs change?

Oh wait, no, it doesn't.

Your solution is okay if you have literate people who can plan and coordinate how to build an emergency shelter. That system works if you have non-deaf people who are physically fit to do manual labor.

 

[Foolmewunz]

So four folded pages coordinates a 10 man team, assigning people to each job and dynamically changing them as the jobs change?

Oh wait, no, it doesn't.

Your solution is okay if you have literate people who can plan and coordinate how to build an emergency shelter. That system works if you have non-deaf people who are physically fit to do manual labor.

But it has a number of advantages to it, too. Like not having to schlep around laptops, MP3 players, triangulation thingymajigs(to use the technical term), and batteries... lots and lots of batteries... or generators. You've got to power up the things, after all. And someone to instruct them (they're illiterate in our scenario for some reason) and to use the computer for them, too.

Yes, I agree that it'd be nice to use my phaser to warm a boulder and keep comfortable on Rijel 4. Those nights can get down to fifty below! But until all of that stuff is more readily available in the 7/11, I can go with a basic wood fire.

BTW, I'm not a luddite. I use laser measuring devices to do the initial check on seagoing containers for contraband. Takes about a tenth of the time as doing the measurements manually, and half the personnel. Zap! Zap! Zap! Hey, that container wall is off by six inches, take it down, Danno! (Okay, it doesn't make a zapping sound...) Technology is neat. But RFID and scans and plans aren't quite there, yet. Give 'em another half-generation, though.... then we can get some cool stuff.

 

[INRM]

I think putting RFID chips in bricks is overkill. I don't think it's really necessary honestly.

Second, there is actually a more disturbing detail most people are missing regarding this technology -- if you can broadcast a RFID signal through brick, you can transmit through damn near anything right?

Who says it's going to be on the skin of the brick and not just mixed in with it?


INRM

 

[GreyICE]

But it has a number of advantages to it, too. Like not having to schlep around laptops, MP3 players, triangulation thingymajigs(to use the technical term), and batteries... lots and lots of batteries... or generators. You've got to power up the things, after all. And someone to instruct them (they're illiterate in our scenario for some reason) and to use the computer for them, too.

Yes, I agree that it'd be nice to use my phaser to warm a boulder and keep comfortable on Rijel 4. Those nights can get down to fifty below! But until all of that stuff is more readily available in the 7/11, I can go with a basic wood fire.

BTW, I'm not a luddite. I use laser measuring devices to do the initial check on seagoing containers for contraband. Takes about a tenth of the time as doing the measurements manually, and half the personnel. Zap! Zap! Zap! Hey, that container wall is off by six inches, take it down, Danno! (Okay, it doesn't make a zapping sound...) Technology is neat. But RFID and scans and plans aren't quite there, yet. Give 'em another half-generation, though.... then we can get some cool stuff.

Oh I'd agree that the technology isn't quite there yet (for instance I'm not seeing the AI necessary to coordinate work teams, and sadly the field I THOUGHT would produce it, Video Games, has decided to mostly neglect AI, meaning that we have to have independent AI development, which will be a bit blah).

But seriously, it will be there soon. And remember, all this set would consist of would be a tripod, a box of MP3 players, a laptop, and a solar cell sheet - one person could hump that in a backpack.

I was thinking specifically of disaster recovery in areas like Indonesia, where the refugee camps are usually a flaming mess. Getting together fast, stable emergency shelters using the refugees themselves as labor would go a long way towards making those places less of a mess. Drop some of those new water 'creators' (they make water out of thin air - well... thick air) and you have yourself a working emergency community quite quickly. Apply the same principle of construction to rudimentary sanitary lines, and you could minimize a lot of the damage of post-disaster refugee situations.

 

[quarky]

What do you think quarky ?

Never thought about it (tags) but I can relate to minimal waste and cutting.
I've designed and built some houses that were surface bonded block with concrete filled cores. Without the mortar joints, an 8"x16" block is actually 7 5/8th" x 15 5/8th". The cores cannot be filled unless the block courses overlap at the half-way mark, meaning that I had to lay out the foundation accordingly, which was easy enough with a pocket calculator.

This method is pretty sweet for the mason. There was no cutting at all; just the breaking of the corner block (the ones with the double web in center) every other course. This verticle alignment of the hollows allows a rebar in each hollow, with plenty of space for regular concrete to slide down quickly. The bar has to be in place before the concrete goes in; no space to shove it in after.

Such walls are very fast, and the lay-up can be done in sub-freezing temps, as long as it warms for the surface mortar and the concrete fill.
I used this method for earth sheltered structures. Standard block masonry isn't up to the task of resisting the earth loads, especially during the backfilling.

 

[quarky]

btw, the first time i tried this was for my own house, now happily owned by my ex-wife, bless her heart.
As I was mostly broke, I designed out waste, to an anal degree. I knew exactly how many blocks I needed, and how many half-blocks, before buying them. I got 5 extra, out of several thousand. I broke 2 accidently, and ended up with 3 extra. There was no cutting; no saw. I guess its unlikely to expect bigger outfits, such as the one's you may work for, to compromise the size and shape of their structures to accomodate existing fabricated materials.

That rectangle I laid out, for the dry-layed block house, was the weirdest dimension for the conventional mind. Instead of 30'x60', or whatever, it comes out to some ugly fraction near by...the one designed for fitting the thing together, in reality.

As per beeping instruction (tags on brick) , A laser level that beeps is nice. I've fantasized a sort of hologram of a structure that is projected, and the builders replace it
with material.

 

[h.g.Whiz]

btw, the first time i tried this was for my own house, now happily owned by my ex-wife, bless her heart.
As I was mostly broke, I designed out waste, to an anal degree. I knew exactly how many blocks I needed, and how many half-blocks, before buying them. I got 5 extra, out of several thousand. I broke 2 accidently, and ended up with 3 extra. There was no cutting; no saw. I guess its unlikely to expect bigger outfits, such as the one's you may work for, to compromise the size and shape of their structures to accomodate existing fabricated materials.

That rectangle I laid out, for the dry-layed block house, was the weirdest dimension for the conventional mind. Instead of 30'x60', or whatever, it comes out to some ugly fraction near by...the one designed for fitting the thing together, in reality.

As per beeping instruction (tags on brick) , A laser level that beeps is nice. I've fantasized a sort of hologram of a structure that is projected, and the builders replace it
with material.

I 've pondered the hologram idea also .

 

[quarky]

Nothing like grunt work to get a guy thinking about ways to make it easier.

I'd love to see a special brick, designed for a hemisphere. All identical units, with a slight angle on sides and bottom, layed up without mortar on a circular footing.
Openings (windows, etc.) would need to be designed to fit.

Cover the dome with a thin, candy shell.
Oops. Or chia.

You get the idea.

 

[bruto]

Nothing like grunt work to get a guy thinking about ways to make it easier.

I'd love to see a special brick, designed for a hemisphere. All identical units, with a slight angle on sides and bottom, layed up without mortar on a circular footing.
Openings (windows, etc.) would need to be designed to fit.

Cover the dome with a thin, candy shell.
Oops. Or chia.

You get the idea.

Would that work, given the decreasing diameter of successive courses?

 

[quarky]

Would that work, given the decreasing diameter of successive courses?

The brick would be a hexagonal polygon, of sorts, with in-sloping sides an curved outer face. It couldn't be layed in conventional courses. There'd be no horizontal joints. The units would be sized to fit a particular radius, so that the last piece in fits the remaining space. Openings would be a challange. They would have to be designed for it.