Publications / 1995 Proceedings of the 12th ISARC, Warsaw, Poland
In order to define the requirements for automation and robotics technologies as applied to the construction industry it is necessary to consider the task structures within which these technologies are to be applied. This in turn implies that any particular task or activity for which automation is to be applied must also be considered in relation to its system context. The paper therefore considers the hierarchical decomposition of tasks down to the level of the discrete movements of the manipulator arm required while retaining the ability to view the system at higher levels in order to establish the flow of both procedural and process data associated with the task. From this basis it is possible to consider the system requirements at a variety of levels and to introduce simulations of both system level and discrete functions in order to establish the operational and information structures.