Andy J
Nate, it's a productivity saver and just like your GPS, you have to learn to survey differently with new gear. That's all anyone is saying. Once you learn your robot, life gets much better.
Andy J
Actually Nate, you found what you think is a weak point based on ONE sample. If you've read the posts that followed, you should have learned that what you think of as some great solution to the inherit issues of robotic work have INDEED been solved by people way smarter than you or I. My robot will track through all kinds of trees and leaves, to the point where I have had it lock on when I couldn't even see the instrument. It needs only a tiny little opening and a skilled operator that knows how to handle the situation. It will shoot out to 900+ feet and check vertically within 0.01 on a regular basis.
You know your market, and are probably right that labor is cheaper there and it would be tough to hike that robot over hill and dale all by yourself. That doesn't mean your initial post is correct though. You sound like an old timer complaining that GPS will never work!!
PS I work in a lot of jungles here in SW Florida, so I know about trees and water, but not hills!
Can you say Joystick?
Be the bot!
Learn your bots capabilities then maximize those capabilities towards your goal. It is hard to imagine any case where I would prefer non robotic over robotic.
Kris summed it up in one sentence
> Once you learn your robot, life gets much better.
And more precise, predictable, repeatable. (Smaller sites of course.)
Can you say Joystick?
They work fine in the woods.
Like everyone else has said...they take getting used to.
THEY ARE TECHNOLOGY NOT MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been using robots since 1998 and I feel that a robot is better in the woods than an average instrument man....
You just have to learn how they work....
I will say dragging a Geodimeter Robot up and down the Missouri hills is not much fun...
Can you say Joystick?
Thanks for candidly disagreeing....
That said, I would also want to use a joy stick, and a point guide system, to help it find me....
Carrying the monster... now that would be work too!
Anyhow, a pretty good new total station is now around 8k.
And, a robot is around 20k or so.
So, the robot will wait a while.
N
Nate
While price is always a consideration, once you use one regularly, you will wonder how you got by without it.
better than a robot
My helper beats a robot all to pieces, another registered land surveyor 🙂
plus he helps me carry gear,offers insight and the occasional joke. it sure beats talking to myself.
Another PLS friend has a robot, which works well for him in the open, just be sure it is on a very stable base, as the torsional forces are an issue.
Nate
Gotta agree with Kris. We are considering completely abandoning all manual total stations and only buying robots from now on. They work great for even 2-man crews and productivity is incredible this way.
By the way, I would give a different brand another shot. Trimble and Leica are years ahead of others in my opinion.
Can you say Joystick?
Nate, it can wait as long as you wish, only you can decide if it can wait no longer, if you ever reach that point. I am married to my robot and seldom does she have trouble with locating me for a shot, even a mile or more away, she is voice activated, which makes her years ahead of the robots being sold today.
jud
Nate, You Need A Robot
like a fish needs a bicycle. Big Help is just the first of your live-in workforce, at the rate you and the wife are going you are going to outstaff Volkert and PBS&J within the decade.
Leica 'bots do have a joystick feature, would think in your neck of the woods a good reflectorless TS would do you more good. Topcon leads the pack on that, unless someone else has come up with something better.
Nate, You Need A Robot
Jud, that is just plain funny!
And, yeah, like a fish needs a bicycle!
Big help is growing alot.
His brother, Monster Help is on his way too. He's 5, going on 13!
🙂
N
