Sustainable and speedy: Prex Co. achieves construction goals with support from Leica iCON solutions

总部位于日本科比Prex Co.，Ltd.（Prex）致力于低成本，持续时间较短和环保住房。作为该任务的一部分，该公司建立了一个独特的预制基础，该基础将基金会的安装减少到了两个小时。

TheLeica ICR70机器人总和Leica图标构建用于施工的软件是Prex高精度，快速安装预制基础的组成部分。该总解决方案使Prex能够达到额外的额外施工期 - 从施工开始到建筑物的顶部只有三天，并且在不到30天的时间内完成了总项目。

奉献创新，可持续住房

Prex is dedicated to attaining sustainable development goals, including offering zero-emission houses that reduce CO2 emissions to zero over the home’s life cycle, minimal houses that are compact and inexpensive and even off-grid housing that combines solar power generation and storage batteries for self-sufficient electricity. Prex’s methods are rooted in finding innovative ways to solve current challenges. For example, Japan's population has been declining for several years and, along with it, the working-age population. This has resulted in labour shortages for the construction industry. At the same time, Prex sees the need to develop more accessible and sustainable housing, helping people experience an increased standard of living, especially families. To address both these issues at once, Prex developed and now deploys precast foundations, which can be constructed in a short period of time with fewer workers at a low cost.

预制基础安装仅需两个小时。Prex工人使用Leica Icon ICR70机器人总站，该机器人总站支持一个简单的单人操作，用于布局。

Precast foundations installed in just two hours

Prex的预制基金会彻底改变了施工过程。

“Until now, building a foundation for a house required the skills of craftsmen, for earthworkers, rebar and formwork stages, and the construction period took about two weeks,” explains Prex’s Chairman, Shogo Arai. “However, with our originally developed precast foundation, it can be installed in just two hours without the need for specialists onsite."

该公司于2019年开发的预制基础是在工厂制造的，具有高强度和质量，以毫米精度制成。结果，预制基础的寿命约为150年，可以反复使用。

建筑约70平方的我ters, the foundation work can be completed simply by installing the precast foundation at the four corners of the building and then stacking the factory-produced housing materials.

Before: Conventional on-site casting foundation method. This method requires many construction workers and about two weeks to assemble the formwork and reinforcing steel and to place the fresh concrete.

之后：对于约70平方米的建筑物，预制基础方法仅需两个小时即可在四个角落安装基础块。

High accuracy and easy operation with a robotic total station

Since there is almost no need to cut and adjust the length of components on site, it is important that all layout accurately meets the design tolerances to ensure a perfect fit. For this reason, Prex carefully selected the construction equipment used for marking out sites. “The position of the precast foundation and the bolts installed in the foundation effect the accuracy of the entire house, so high accuracy within a tolerance of 1 millimetre is often required," says Arai. To achieve this high accuracy, Prex chose the Leica iCON iCR70 robotic total station with iCON build software – both designed especially for construction.

“我们许多不同类型的测试和比较tal stations," reflects Arai on Prex’s decision to invest in the iCR70. “The iCR70 is very accurate, and even when a vehicle or worker crosses the road during the layout process and the total station loses sight of the prism, it recovers quickly. Our working environment is very dynamic and therefore we had to evaluate the ability of the total station to quickly recover from possible line-of-sight interruptions, keeping downtime to a minimum. We are very pleased with the performance of the iCR70 in this regard.”

“We also chose the iCR70 because it can be used both with and without a prism. We can use a prism when we need 1 millimetre-level accuracy and continue working efficiently with a non-reflective target when it is difficult to use a prism," says Arai. In addition, since both local grid and national coordinate systems can be used for marking out coordinates, they can be used according to the scale and purpose of the site. Importantly for Prex’s goal of fast and inexpensive construction, the iCR70 also allows a single person to perform layout work, increasing layout productivity by up to 80%. “Before, we used to measure the distance between precast foundations with a measuring tape and check the height with a level, which required two or three workers to layout. However, with the iCR70, we only need one person to do the layout," Arai continues.

Smooth guidance with construction-tailored software

In combination with the iCON total station, Prex uses Leica iCON build construction software on theLeica Icon CC80控制器平板电脑数字化和简化布局过程。使用AutoCAD创建并以DXF格式保存的建筑物的3D模型，第一步是加载DXF文件，并将要在运行图标构建的字段控制器构建中列出。

The screen then displays a 3D model of the foundation and other parts of the building, the points to be laid out and the current position. iCON build provides easy-to-follow navigation to the desired point, so anyone can reach points quickly without making mistakes. Additionally, with the CC80’s 7-inch touchscreen, Prex crews can easily see the layout points and navigation even in direct sunlight. With clear visuals and intuitive features, one-person layout is easily and quickly completed, allowing the rest of the installation process to proceed.

Layout points and current position on the 3D model in Leica iCON build. The software provides easy-to-follow navigation in terms of direction and distance to the target point.

如今，由于Leica Geosystems Icon Construction Solutions的技术，Prex正在将他们的可持续性业务目标和更好的明天变成现实，从而验证了他们的公司哲学和使命。