Faculté ENAC REME

Sandra Rihs Poster n°33

Robots improve construction sites

This research focuses on the potentials given by automation technologies to develop a sustainable
construction process for buildings. The economic, environmental and social aspects of
automated construction proceses are evaluated. The key factors pushing for a change in the construction
process are the declining numbers of construction workers, the increasing schedule and cost pressure on
the construction industry and high material consumption in the Swiss construction sector. This study aims at
re-engineering the construction process to make it sustainable. The objectives of this project are: to stimulate research
and implementation of automation technologies in the construction process and to evaluate the potential of construc-
tion robots with respect to the economic use of resources in order to provide guidelines for a sustainable stewardship.
Project scope The research lies in the intersection of three research fields: robotics, architecture and sustainability. The focus within the robotics field is on construction robots and more precisely on different types of construction robots (e.g.: humanoid robot, robotic swarm,contour crafting). In the architecture field this study
looks at the different building types (ex: house-building, non-residential, rehabilitation and maintenance) and at the different construction stages within theses building types (e.g.: primary, secondary and/ or tertiary). The materials used by the construction robots is also relevant(e.g.: concrete,
steel, brick etc). Within the sustainability field special attention is given to the economic, social and environmental aspects of the con- struction process accomplished partly or fully by robots. Robot types This chapter will look at classifying different construction robot
types and ana- lyzing their technical abilities to fulfill certain tasks. Definition of terms and data Within the family of robots the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) [10] differenti-
ate between multipurpose manipulating industrial robots and service robots. While industrial robots have a strict international definition (ISO 8373), service robots are given a preliminary definition by UNECE and IFR: A robot
which op- erates semi- or fully autonomously to perform services to the well-being of humans and equip- ment, excluding manufacturing operations. According to the UNECE and IFR classification

Economical
within the service robot category, is done by application areas and types of robots. Three sec- tions describe the different service robots: Section I includes all Personal and
domes- tic robots, Section I I Professional service robots and Section I I I is dedicated to Robotics R&D. Section I I inlcudes a subsection called 32-36 Construc-
t i o n and demolition within which 35 is solely devoted to construction. In this research, robots of other subsections (e.g. Subsection 62 Humanoid robots)

a n a l y s i s
a r e also taken into account for construction applications. The Construction Ro- bot Systems Catalogue in Japan uses further 17 groups to
clas- sify construction robots. Out of these 17 groups, five are excluded in this re- search, because they do not relate to construction of
build- ings but exclusively to civil engineering works (Mountain and Shield Tun- nel, Dam Construction, Marine Ship/Underwater
Work,
Steel-
Pavement Work). The twelve others include: Earthworks, Foundation
framework, Fin- ishing Work of Building, Prefabrication of Reinforce- shows that even a highly au- Works, Crane Work, Concrete
ment, Pneumatic Caisson Work,
Work, Placing of
Survey, Inspec-

tonomous robotic system can be

tion& Monitoring, Maintenance and Element Techniques. Three groups are selected for further analysis, which are : Con-
crete Work, Placing of Steel-framework and Finishing Work of Building. Since not all the chosen robots for this research
can be placed in those three categories, the three following complementary classification systems have been defined: 1. Ty-

very profitable for the Swiss

p o l o g y, for what type of building is the robot utilized (non-residential, high-rise, residential) 2. Structure, for which structures (pri-
m a r y , secondary, tertiary) is the robot employed 3. Materials, what materials does the robot handle. A further important indication is
wether the analyzed robots are commercially available or if it is a university project. In this matrix it is clearly visible that all construction robots can
be used for
account for 14%
nonresidential, six for high-rise and five for residential buildings. In terms of
of the total number of worldwide service robots for construction market considering diffusion, demolition and construction
professional use up to the end of 2003,
robots of Subsection 32-36
which adds up to 3’030 units in

the fact that even unskilled work-

total. Although the subsection 35 construction robots ac- counts for only 60 units in 2003, a further 95 units are expected to be installed until 2007. [10] An
application area with strong growth might be hu- manoid robots. quite a few Japanese companies are developing these robots for multiple use. It is further analyzed if the
humanoid robots they ,are suitable to work on construction sites.The unit price for professional service robots in general differ from $ 10’000 to $ 300’000, depending on the type
of application. Construction robot types Out of the mul-
was made so that a great variety of construction ro- Material flow titude of con-
bots is shown, ers earn as much as robot struction robot types ten systems have been chosen as samples to be further discussed. The choice
going from established systems to promising research solutions. 1. SurfRobo, concrete compactor,

operators in Switzerland.
designed and implemented by Japanese firmTak- enaka 2. Jap- anese WR column-to-col- umn welding robot 3. Contour crafting in-
vented by Prof. Khoshnevis of the University
wall installation by You and Lee,Hanyang Uni- analysis of South-
versity and
ern California [4] 4.
Samsung corpo-
Heavy weight manipulator for curtain
ration, South Korea [8] 5. ROC-

S o c i a l
CO a hydraulic 6 DOF robot for brick assem- bly developed as a EU project [2] 6. SMART factory
implemented by Japanese firm Shimizu
to build a wall tested by Stewart and In the material flow analysis spe- used for high-
Russell from
rise buildings
Monash Uni-
[12] 7. Robotic swarm
versity, Australia [7]

cial attention will be given to which, analysis

8. Humanoid Robot to transport light- weight board tested by Japanese Shimizu Corpora-
tion [6] 9. Three assembly robots for mounting partition walls, simulated by Prof.Thomas
Bock, TU München [9] 10. Wall painting robots analyzed by Kahane and Rosenfeld, Technion, Israel [3] Tech-
nical analysis The different informa-
most important specifications are how and how much construction tions available about the ten robot systems vary significantly. For the purpose of
closely tied to the typology and structure the robots are used for and the mate- Within the social analysis two the study the
rial they are

materials are economised during

handling. Based on Warszawski’s [11]
tion of construction materials. The
grippers and various work tools per-
according to a specified task program.
it and sending appropriate feedback
classification the attributes of a construction robot are defined as follows: 1. Manipula-
robot arm handles, moves and orients material from one place to another. 2.
form the specifically required task at the required location. 3. Control of the
topics, which are related to the con- Effecting,
e ff e c t o r
the different construction stages com-
4. Sensing through tactile, proximity and vision sensors, the environment
signals to the control mechanism. 5. Mobility of the robotic system within struction workforce, are discussed. around
t h e

One is the impact on the wages

construction site, moving with legs,
which energies a robot uses to operate.
gines (Fuel Cell, Solar Energy, Ca-
wheels or tracks. A further study of the technical analysis consists of com- paring
pared to ‘traditional’ techniques. An One can distinguish: — Combustion engines (diesel, gasoline)— Electri-
ble...)— others . . .Architectural considerations : Architectural typology To
cal en-
a n a -

important issue will be to analyse and composition and the other the im-
lyze use of robots on construction sites this research differentiates between housing, non-residential and high-rise build-
ings. The current use of existing robots show, that they are thought to be used for a specific typology. Japanese construc- t i o n
robots focus mainly on non-residential and high-rise buildings, with the exception of prefabricated buildings for housing, which

the incidence on the recycling

pact on their health. In a further
will not be further discussed. Construction stages A further and in the future more and more important aspect of the con- struction
site are the three different construction stage structures. The primary structure including all the supporting elements. The sec- ondary

process.
structure defined as separating walls and the ter- tiary structure described as interior finishing elements. In terms of sustainability the duration
of life of these three different structures is of utmost importance and must be taken into consideration for future reconstruction and or demoli- tion of the
building.Construction materials The choice of con-
automation technology to use. Differ-
struction materials of the
ent robot types special-
building itself also plays a role in decid-
ize in various material applica-
step job availability, professional ing which
tions. Sus-
tainability analysis Economical analysis Based on the research by Warszawski
ethics, diversity and equal- et al. [1] the

T i m e
ecomic analy- sis can be described as follows. This method allows calcu- lating the cost
of produc- ing one work unit (eg: 1m2 of partition).The various costs are taken into account :
Produc- tion Cost = Capital Cost + Direct Cost + Maintenance Cost + Transfer Cost The as-
ity will be taken into ac- sumptions made for

analysis
t h e analysis for the interior wall painting robot, as described by Kahane et al. [3]: 1. The robotic system is multipurpose and
can be
of the
employed for a total of 2000 work-hours/year. 2. The annual interest
robot is 5 years. 4. The energy cost in operating the robot is esti-
is assumed to be 7%. 3.
mated at 2.55CHF/hour. 5. count. The economic life span
the annual cost of repair (in-

shows that with the use of

clud- ing labor, parts and downtime) is assumed to be 10% of the sys- tem’s initial cost. 6. The rou- tine maintenance of the robot is
a s - sumed to be 6% of the cost of the working hours. With this given assumptions one can calculate at which production cost a construction
r o - bot can compete with an unskilled worker. According to Ka- hane [3] a highly autonomous robotic system for wall painting that costs 127’540

automation technologies a 70-

CHF would be profitable even in cheap-labor markets, where an unskilled worker costs 1430.- CHF per month and the robot operator 5100.- CHF per month. This example shows
that even a highly autonomous robotic system can be very profit- able for the Swiss construction market, considering the fact, that an unskilled worker earns as much as the robot
o p - erator of Kahane’s case study. Other types of robots can be analysed following the same framework. Time analysis Following the case study by Kahane et al. [3] the time used

80% duration reduction can be

by the robot and/or the robot operator can be subdivided into the following actions: 1. Actions done autonomously be the robot. 2. Actions that employ the robot and the operator to-
gether. 3. Actions carried out by the operator alone, while the robot is remaining idle. 4. Actions carried out by the operator, while the robot is working on other
t a s k steps. With a highly autonomous robotic system for wall painting the robot is employed for 94% of the overall task time, while the operator is
merely em- ployed for 40% of the overall task time. Which means that the op-
achieved for a given task and erator can simultaneously oper- ate another robotic system. And the

Technical
total time of the system for two layers of paint was 0.019hr/m2 which corresponds to 70 - 80% of duration re- duction for the given task. 4.3

it also contributes to lowering

Waste analysis In the waste analysis special attention will be given to the amount of waste reduction using a robot compared to ’traditional’
techniques. An impor- tant issue will be to analyse the possiblity of recycling the construction waste material (eg.: concrete) as described by Yamazaki

analysis
[12]. Prof. S. Kytzia of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is currently leading a project which establishes models to analyse the conse- quences of reorganisa-
tion of material flow (eg. re-introducing construction
struction sector, which could be relevant for the
waste as construction material or
waste analysis. Social anal- the total time input. as a secondary energy
ysis Another field of re-
ressource) in the con-
search focused more

In the technical analysis

on methods to measure sustainability of the construction process than on the automation tech- nologies themselves.

Conclusions
Gilchrist et al. quantify the social costs associated with con- struction projects by ana- lyzing the adverse
impacts and defining social cost in- dicators. It is stated that more automated meth- ods could contribute
to lower the total costs, which is defined as construc- tion costs + social costs.
the special circumstances Although Gilchrist

The economical as well

concentrates more on social costs borne by the community surrounding the con- struction site it is a

of a construction site and

very interesting method, which could be trans- posed to define important indicators for the construction
process with robots. A further study aimed at defining social and economical aspects of the construction

as the time analysis show that

process. Such as the shortage of young labourers, the health risks of the construction workforce and the investment
in construction in Swit-
struction workforce
zerland compared to the EU. First results, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics, were show-
has the highest risk of injuries compared to other branches of the secondary sector. In November 2004 the resulting technical re- ing that the con-
the building industries

a highly autonomous robot could be quirements for robots

considered their business situation for the first time since 2002 as satisfactory, with a slower recovery noted in the lake of Geneva region. Ac-
cording to the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics (2002), Switzerland is clearly at the bottom of the table concerning the number of new con-

very profitable for Swiss construc-

struction in housing compared to other countries of the EU, with Spain and Germany leading the list. Another big issue in the construction sector
is price dumping,
ing workers and
due to fierce competition, as stated by the SBV (Swiss Builder Association). Other factors such as the
the high construction cost should further more interest con- struction firms to invest into new will be analysed. shortage of young build-
technologies such as robots.

tion firms. Furthermore the social analy-

Within the social analysis two topics, which are related to the construc- tion workforce, will be further discussed. One is the impact
on the wages and composition and the other the impact on their health. 1. Impact on the wages and composition of the
construction workforce Current research main focus is on data analysis of the Swiss construction sector. Following results

sis shows that the supply of unskilled

have been sig- nificant for further conclusions. The data analysed between 1992 and 2004 was issued by the SBV (Swiss Build-
er Association) [5]. The different education levels of construction worker were defined by their wages. The average wage in 2004 per month
of the highly skilled worker (foreman, workmaster, as- sistant foreman) varies between 6828.- and 5920.- CHF, of the middle skilled worker (technician) be-

workers is dramatically decreasing

tween 5326.- and 5226.- CHF and of the unskilled worker between 4780.- and 4244.- CHF per month. These wages are later used to compare the cost of a
robot with the cost of a construction worker for the same given task. Another indicator is the number of work- ers in the Swiss construc-
tion industry. The number of unskilled workers on con- struction sites droped by 14% between the year 1992 and 2004.
Whereas the number of highly skilled workers rose by 2% and the number of middle skilled workers even by 9
%. Dürsteler [5]
the EU) will put no
which is beneficial for introducing new concludes that the actual enlargement
pressure on the employment of construc-
of labour mobility (through east european
tion workers, since the new ’eastern’
countries joining
workforce will

automation technologies.
target the unskilled worker market, which is declining dra- matically anyway. 2. Impact on the health of the
construction workforce Analyzing the reduction of hazardous work by using more automation technolo- gies on the
construction site. In a further step job availability, professional eth- ics, diversity and equality will be taken into account.
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