Surgical Precision: Robots Rise in Complex Demolition Job

Demolition is no longer wrecking balls, sledgehammers and explosives; it is becoming a far more surgical operation. Particularly when working at height in inclement weather, there is no off-the-shelf solution. South-east Queensland-based demolition wizards DEMEX worked on a unique project in North Queensland, which required a robotics-first approach. Wilmar Sugar was on a tight deadline for the complex demolition and $12-million stack replacement project in the Burdekin in North Queensland. They had a 20-week window in which they could demolish the 50-year-old concrete and brick twin chimney stacks and replace them with a 72m steel boiler stack in time for the sugarcane crush season. It was, however, not a simple job, DEMEX project director Scott Chalmers tells The Urban Developer . ▲ A bespoke platform was created for the Brokk robot to enable it to move down the tapered shape of the chimney structures. The client’s mill and boiler room had to remain operational and protected throughout the demolition phase. While the initial methodologies proposed had entailed cutting chunks and craning them down, with the benefit of early contractor involvement, a more precise robotics-first solution was engineered. But it required some innovative thinking with zero margin for error. Chalmers says the existing 74m and 65m chimney stacks had reached the end of life and were deteriorating to the point that conventional demolition was not an option. Extreme North Queensland weather would also throw a spanner in the works with cyclonic rain, flooding and intense heat during the summer months. It was the perfect job for the 2-tonne Brokk 200 demolition robot, which has remote capabilities and a good power-to-size ratio. But it was a piece of technology that the DEMEX crews had not used before, and the team was tasked with creating an adaptable rig and platform to hoist the robot via crane to suspend it just above the stacks, Chalmers says. The platform also had to expand to accommodate the tapered shape of the stacks as the machine moved down the structure, he says. “We had to bring the stack down with that piece of equipment gradually. “After approval, we had to design and fabricate the design for the Brokk; it had to be specific for the diameter and height of the stacks and the weight of the Brokk. “Then we delivered that to the site and we started the project just before Christmas 2024.” The crews worked around the clock, controlling the machinery remotely from an onsite purpose-built control room. “If we went with the original methodology, that wouldn’t have been possible because we would have had people up next to the stack and working 24-7 with all weather conditions and everything that’s associated with North Queensland. “Our methodology allowed our team to be onsite the whole time but down away from the chimney.” ▲ Brokk operator controls the robot remotely from inside a purpose-built control room onsite. Chalmers says the demolition operators controlled the rig remotely via cameras on a live feed. It required a slow and steady approach. The operators had to familiarise themselves with the machinery, without the hands-on feedback they were accustomed to, Chalmers explains. “Usually when you’re in an excavator or demolishing a structure, you can feel the structure in your handles almost, you can feel the movement, you have that in your mind all the time,” he says. “Trying to get used to bringing down a stack with no direct line of sight and gradually, so we had no debris fall down and damage the boiler room next door, that was a learning curve for the team.” The Brokk robot is akin to a small excavator with a beak that “nibbles” around the edge of the stack in a precision manoeuvre. “It took a little bit of time to get used to the camera movements and the Brokk movements to then do that accurately and speed things up,” Chalmers says. “The technology is used in a lot of tunnelling and high-risk demolition. They started using the robots to try and get human beings away from that risk. “We had unusually high rains for the season, we had winds, we had hot and humid days as well. This methodology meant that [the weather conditions] did not affect the team in any way.” ▲ The DEMEX team methodically demolished the two chimneys ahead of the replacement of the concrete and brick structures with a new steel chimney stack. This ultimately enabled around-the-clock work on the dismantling of the chimney stacks. “We did the first one in five weeks and the second one was down in two weeks. The first 20m the guys really had to take their time and get a feel for the stacks. “We had lots of learnings, as we do out of every job. “It was a complete success but it was great to see the guys come back with lots of ideas on how we could refine it.” Working through the Christmas period when businesses shut down also meant a lot of planning and risk assessment from the team before the job began. “We had to have a spare Brokk onsite, we had to have a lot of spare parts, so there was lots of thinking before the project, it meant that we couldn’t get a lot wrong because it would have meant a complete stoppage on site. “We spent weeks planning and thinking for what could go wrong and we had to put something in place just in case of that. “We had a fitter onsite and he is very experienced, and we gave him every spare part we possibly could for this machine.” Teams of five were onsite for 12-hour shifts in what ended up being a relatively seamless job, Chalmers says. While the Brokk didn’t necessarily cut down the number of people required to carry out the task, Chalmers says it removed them from the high-risk environment. However, the real value lay in the time savings, as without the all-weather solution, the team would have experienced numerous stoppages. The project has been nominated for a World Demolition Award and the DEMEX team will head to Nashville in November for the awards event.

Surgical Precision: Robots Rise in Complex Demolition Job

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