The manual total station is dead. The robots killed it. Well, not quite, but with manual sales stagnating in the developed world for some years and robotics consistently increasing, it's certainly the way things are going. So what's driving it? The answer is productivity.

An instrument like the Geomax Zoom70 that can track a prism without the engineer having to constantly aim and focus simply saves a lot of time. Plus, the ability for one person to control the instrument remotely means that an extra worker isn't required to hold the prism.

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The trainee surveyor can put in the pins on the marks and learn more from having the senior engineer next to them rather than having them a hundred metres away, waving their arms wildly.

Drawing updates are delivered seamlessly to the field through google Drive or email so that everyone is working with the latest information, a key requirement for BIM. And while we're on the subject of BIM, X-Pad – Geomax's bespoke operating software – can import BIM files and stake out directly from them, removing the need for time spent in the office preparing data.

With such a multitude of productivity gains and a pricetag that's not too different from other brands' manual offering, it's not difficult to see why industry leaders like Greenhatch have embraced the robotic revolution by moving to the Geomax Zoom70.

Still not sure? It's available for a free trial from Surveytech in London: www.survey-tech.co.uk.

To see the Geomax Zoom70 in action watch the video below.