Applications of Collaborative Industrial Robots in Building Construction

The use of automation and robotics has demonstrated numerous advantages in many industries including manufacturing. Similarly, it is expected that robotic technology plays a key role in achieving a successful construction project. Industrial robots have been used widely in production in a variety of applications in the automotive or manufacturing industry. Industrial robots are large and powerful robots but because of safety concerns for humans who work around the machines, these robots are supposed to be put into a cage during their operations to address safety concerns. On the other hand, the emergence of the collaborative robots has enabled a human worker to work with the machine closely while the human worker is allowed to directly share a common workspace with the robot. Collaborative industrial robots are harmless to the human worker, affordable, and easy to use and program. More importantly, studies on human-robot collaboration have indicated that a better productivity at workplace can be achieved through the collaboration of human worker with a safe and flexible robot. However, the use of collaborative industrial robots in building construction has not been explored yet. This paper studies the features of collaborative industrial robots and investigates their applications in the construction process.