Intelligent Robots for Construction

Of all industrial groups, construction represents one of the most challenging sectors for the implementation of robotics. There is subset of construction related activities - notably those involving work in hazadous environments such as tunnelling, undesea tasks, and nuclear installations - where there are very strong incentives to develop robotics. However the bulk of construction activities, which constitute the main subject of this paper, are inherently difficult to mechanize let alone use robots economically. It is argued in this paper that the use of non-intelligent industrial robots in construction is likely to be limited to a small minority of tasks associated with the finishing and service installations. Thus to make progress, intelligent rebots will be required to operate in the uncontrolled environment of the construction site. The paper will identify the approach to robotics development most likely to prove helpful to the needs of construction.