NIST research in autonomous construction

The National Institute of Standards and Technology Construction Metrology and Automation Group is conducting ongoing research to provide standards, methodologies, and performance metrics that will assist the development of advanced systems to automate construction tasks. Initial research in this project, entitled “Performance of Innovative Technologies for Automated Construction,” has focused on autonomous large-scale pick-and-place operations using the assembly of structural steel as a test operation. An Automated Construction Testbed (ACT) is under development to research advanced concepts in crane automation, site metrology, laser-based 3D imaging, construction object identification and tracking, sensor-based data exchange, site status visualization, and design data integration for autonomous system planning. This paper provides an overview of this research effort.