Take The Bicycle - a project concerning the potentials and challenges in the implementation of a new Bicycle Sharing System in Copenhagen

The scope of this project is to analyze and highlight potentials and challenges regarding the integration of a new Copenhagen bicycle sharing system with the public transportation, using the Copenhagen Climate Plan as our point of reference. Via a Critical Realist approach, we looked both at the physical and commuter aspects of the implementation, followed by a calculation on its expected usage and CO2 reductions. We conclude that there exist potentials in the physical implementation of the new bicycle sharing system in Copenhagen, especially in areas where there appears to be gaps in the coverage of the public transportation. However, we see a small tendency where some stations do not necessarily have the required space above surface for bicycle sharing docking stations, thereby requiring other, possibly more expensive, approaches. When it comes to meeting the requirements of the commuters, we find that there exist challenges which can seemingly only be met by high standards in the whole system. If these challenges can be met, we assess an optimal commuter usage and CO2 reduction of respectively 11,801 users and 6,099 t/year. Potentially we see that a new bicycle sharing system in Copenhagen can contribute to the achievement of visions for the transport sector set forth in the Climate Plan, but only if the observed challenges are taken into consideration, as a half-hearted approach does not seem to be gainful for the bicycle sharing system

RoBétArmé Project: Human-robot collaborative construction system for shotcrete digitization and automation through advanced perception, cognition, mobility and additive manufacturing skills [version 1; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations]

The importance of construction automation has grown worldwide, aiming to deliver new machineries for the automation of roads, tunnels, bridges, buildings and earth-work construction. This need is mainly driven by (i) the shortage and rising costs of skilled workers, (ii) the tremendous increased needs for new infrastructures to serve the daily activities and (iii) the immense demand for maintenance of ageing infrastructure. Shotcrete (sprayed concrete) is increasingly becoming popular technology among contractors and builders, as its application is extremely economical and flexible as the growth in construction repairs in developed countries demand excessive automation of concrete placement. Even if shotcrete technology is heavily mechanized, the actual application is still performed manually at a large extend. RoBétArméEuropean project targets the Construction 4.0 transformation of the construction with shotcrete with the adoption of breakthrough technologies such as sensors, augmented reality systems, high-performance computing, additive manufacturing, advanced materials, autonomous robots and simulation systems, technologies that have already been studied and applied so far in Industry 4.0. The paper at hand showcases the development of a novel robotic system with advanced perception, cognition and digitization capabilities for the automation of all phases of shotcrete application. In particular, the challenges and barriers in shotcrete automation are presented and the RoBétArmésuggested solutions are outlined. We introduce a basic conceptual architecture of the system to be developed and we demonstrate the four application scenarios on which the system is designated to operate