Ceiling beam screw removal using a robotic manipulator

Within the larger task of renovating an office building, there are many repetitive tasks that are suitable for automation. With the decreasing availability of skilled labour and increasing emphasis on reuse of materials, there is an opportunity to introduce robots that can replace labour for the simpler tasks. This paper describes a robot to perform the task of removing tile screws from suspended ceiling beams. The robot uses a specially-designed tool mounted at the end of an arm. This tool removes screws by turning them between two rollers. The tool is moved down the beam in a single motion, allowing it to remove many screws fast with little operator interaction. RT-Middleware is used as the implementation architecture, which facilitated development by simplifying testing of individual components.