Watched a crew bust out a site layout in 2 hours with a robotic total station that used to take me a full day with a tape measure

Saw the before and after on a job site in Denver last Thursday, the robotic setup cut the time by 75% and the foreman said they barely had any rework, has anyone else tried swapping out manual layouts for one of these?

2 comments

2 Comments

beth_hunt1d ago

Did the robotic total station need a dedicated operator or could any crew member run it?

matthew_baker20h ago

Yeah, I looked like a total clown the first time I tried running one. @beth_hunt, I thought I was hot stuff but I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out which button made it stop spinning. Any crew member can technically run it but you'll waste a lot of time without training. The robot doesn't care about your feelings, it just beeps at you when you mess up. Honestly, I'd say keep someone dedicated on it unless you enjoy public humiliation. It's one of those things that looks easy until you're standing there with a dumb look on your face.