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Design for Robotic Construction (Continued)

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Research Team

Our Motivation:

"In the future, the full benefits of using robots on-site may not be attained without adjusting the facility design and components to the robotic construction method as previously shown in manufacturing industries. 

Our prior work has prototyped a User Interface that can check the feasibility of robotic construction and consider how the robot interacts in 3D with the construction product design. 

To move further, we still need to work on case studies with builders, designers, robotics manufacturers, and construction innovators to understand and improve the generality of the previously developed solution."


 

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Research Contribution

Validate the generality of the UI and the product metrics with case studies from multiple perspectives of technology companies, builders, designers, robot manufacturers, and construction innovators.

Optimize the performance of the UI to generate diverse redesign suggestions with evaluations of the corresponding schedule and cost impacts to make robotic construction feasible. 

Develop the design of the interface between product components optimizing reachability and assembly for automation.

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Problem

Practical Problem

Over the last years at CIFE we have studied 20 robots in 8 countries and we have been able to understand the applicability of these robots in terms of their impact on safety, quality, schedule, and cost.

However, In 60% of the cases, we observed misalignment between robot capabilities and design and construction features, and thus the full benefits of using robots on-site may not be attained.

To avoid design misalignments, the AEC industry needs to consider robotic construction during design and early construction planning.

Conceptual Problem

Builders, designers, robot manufacturers, and construction innovators still do not have a tool or approach for DfRC (Design for Robotic Construction) to quickly check the feasibility of robotic construction, visualize redesign suggestions and to understand the impact of the changes.

We have validated the value of the previously developed solution based on literature reviews and two robot examples.

However, to ensure the desired effect, we still need to further determine its generality and improve the accuracy and applicability by involving perspectives from multiple stakeholders.  

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Solution

A User Interface for robotic construction that can express robot capabilities in 3D, suggest design decisions at the product level, and evaluate the corresponding cost and schedule impacts. 

Regarding the redesign suggestions, we can consider changes to the physical construction, to the robot product, or even to the target of the task.

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Added Value For The Industry

The Design for Robotic Construction (DfRC) User Interface will help builders, designers, robot manufacturers, and construction innovators to determine whether robotic construction is feasible by looking at the product level.

The UI also helps generate diverse redesign suggestions to make robotic construction feasible and provide the corresponding cost and schedule impacts.

Another area of impact on practice is to further develop the design of the interface between product components optimizing reachability and assembly for automation. 

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Cooperation Partner

Autodesk, USA
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 Timeline

 

Date

Activity

Outcome

Spring 2021

Research became awarded: "Design for Robotic Construction"

 

Summer 2021

Start working with industry partners on case-studies

 

Fall 2021

Literature review to understand product metrics

 

 

Define a set of metrics to express robot capabilities connected to construction and design decisions

 

Winter 2021

Prototyped a User Interface suggesting design decisions at the product level to check for robotic feasibility

 

 

 

Key Contribution of the "Design for Robotic Construction" research:

- Prototyped a User Interface suggesting design decisions at the product level to check for robotic feasibility based on literature review and two robot examples.

- Defined a set of metrics to express robot capabilities connected to construction and design decisions.

Spring 2022

Research became awarded: "Design for Robotic Construction (Continued)"

 

Fall 2022

Start of the Research / Literature review

 

 

Updated the metrics used for design feasibility check

Design feasibility check

 

Updated the features of the user interface

User interface

 

Validated the generality of the DfRC approach for design feasibility check with 16 case studies from Stanford University's Construction Robotics class

16 case studies from Stanford University's "Construction Robotics class" and Design feasibility check results for the 16 cases

Winter 2022/23

Provided the MVP (minimum viable product) redesign suggestions for the 16 cases from the perspective of schedule and cost impact to make robot construction feasible.

Types of redesign metrics involved for the 16 cases

 

Submitted a paper at 2023 European Conference on Computing in Construction titled "Exploring a Design for Robotic Construction approach: two case studies matching robot and construction design features"

 

Spring 2023

Collect perspectives from different stakeholders (designers, builders, robot manufacturers, construction innovators) and conduct use case tests on the User Interface

 

 

Develop a demo that incorporates a Robot Operating System (ROS). The user can specify the 3D models of the building and the robot, as well as related parameters (including robot's trajectory and motion configuration)

 

 

If you want to participate in the project please reach out to Heyaojing Huang.