Wall-crawling robot sees Birmingham entrepreneur among finalists for global construction competition.
A Birmingham entrepreneur, with an enterprise started in a school friend’s garage, has been named as a finalist in the 2022 COINS Grand Challenge. This is a global competition organised by UK construction technology company, COINS, to encourage innovation in the construction sector, with prizes of up to £100k.
Jack Cornes, co-founder of UK company, HausBots, has developed a wall-crawling robot designed for the inspection and maintenance of the built environment. With an estimated 85,000 workers falling from a height every year, in the UK and the US combined, this innovation aims to reduce worker accidents.
“After learning about these statistics we set on our mission to help reduce the danger in protecting and maintaining the built environment.” Jack Cornes, HausBots
HausBots is now a flourishing business, with their own Birmingham office to test and trial their robotics.
“The HB1 robot we have developed can climb rough surfaces and overcome obstacles such as wires and surface bolts. This can be used for painting, HD visual Inspection as well as building and infrastructure surveys” Jack Cornes, HausBots
The COINS Grand Challenge competition winners will be announced at an event to be held in the Birmingham Rep Theatre on 11 October 2022.
This year’s shortlist includes ideas from innovators, students and construction professionals from Estonia, US, UK, Macedonia, Switzerland, New Zealand, Malaysia and Ghana.
Other UK-based finalists include:
- Isabelle Gough, with London-based Cercula, life-cycle assessment software which enables construction companies to easily track their carbon data and plan sustainable construction projects more effectively
- Teesside University student, Subarna Sivashanmugam, with a digital platform to optimise building circularity through enabling the supply chain to measure and manage life-cycle emissions.
Robert Brown, CEO of COINS, who has played a major role in the COINS Grand Challenge since its inception in 2015, comments:
“It’s great see such a wide variety of ideas aiming to improve construction sustainability, efficiency and safety shortlisted for this year’s COINS Grand Challenge. We are very proud to see the challenge go from strength to strength and hope that all the finalists go on to pursue a career in construction whether they win the competition or not.”
The final judging will take place this October in Birmingham (UK), when the finalists will present their idea to a panel of judges influential in the construction industry, including:
Nicola Barclay MRTPI FRSA / HOUSING EXPERT
Stuart Binstock /PRESIDENT AND CEO – CONSTRUCTION FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (CFMA)
Oliver Novakovic / TECHNICAL & INNOVATION DIRECTOR – BARRATT PLC GROUP
Katie Tamblin / CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER – ACHILLES INFORMATION LTD
Neil Pike / HEAD OF BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT – OVERBURY PLC
Dr. Neha Gopinath / ASSOCIATE LECTURER IN MANAGEMENT – UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS
Jon Murrell / MANAGING DIRECTOR – CS ACCELERATE
Lee Chadwick / CEO – SPOTLER GROUP
For more details visit www.coins-grandchallenge.com
