Construction robots are a subset of industrial robots used for building and infrastructure construction at site.[1][2] Despite being traditionally slow to adopt new technologies, 55% of construction companies in the United States, Europe, and China now say they use robots on job sites.[3] Most of the robots working on jobsites today are designed to remove strains on humans, e.g., excavating and lifting heavy objects. Robots that survey and layout markers, tie rebar, and install drywall are also now on the market.
Other robots are being developed to perform tasks such as finishing the exterior, steel placement, construction of masonry wall, reinforcement concrete, etc. The main challenge to use robots in site is due to limitation in workspace.[4]
Obayashi Corporation in Japan has developed and used a system to lay concrete layers in dam construction.[8]
Social impact
Use of the construction robots in the USA is rare, mainly due to opposition from labour unions. However, in Japan, these robots are taken positively. [7]
↑Yamaguchi H, Arai T. Distributed and autonomous control method for generating shape of multiple mobile robot group. In Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS'94) 1994 Sep 12 (Vol. 2, pp. 800-807). IEEE.
