Benefit/cost analysis of a robot-based construction automation system

Many studies which try to integrate construction technologies with robotic technologies have been actively progressing. It is critical for an assessment model of the economical efficiency of new technologies to ensure the correct investment and the spread of these new technologies. However, an assessment model of economical efficiency of automated construction technology to evaluate properly various influencing factors in terms of technology and economy is relatively unsatisfied as there are no practical cases. Therefore, our research team has developed a new assessment process for automated construction technologies as a decision tool, inspired by benefit-cost analysis. This presented process was employed to evaluate the test-bed and the results show that the BI and CI are 1.24 and 5.22, respectively, and economic efficiency is 0.24. The results indicate that the applications of four new technologies present a significantly strong benefit and respectively large cost, compared to the traditional process. As establishing an assessment model of an automated construction system which has not previously been known, it is expected to understand the effect and potential power of the application of robot technology to the construction industry. For further study, it is necessary for the integration method to be developed because of the degree of difference between BI and CI.