The Development of a New Reinforced Concrete Work System through the Application of the Robot Module Concept - WASCOR Research Project (Part 2)

In this paper, a system which employs robots in the automation of construction work is proposed. Specifically, the methodology of a robotized system design in reinforced concrete work are described. Reinforced concrete work involves various works such as mold and reinforcement assembly, concrete placement, straight finish, and mold demolition. The complexity of this work process has been the major obstacle to develop the robotized system. It has been considered difficult to use robots in construction work under the present conditions. Therefore, the development of a drastically reformed construction system was required. In order to accomplish the robotized system for this complex construction work, a consistent system design approach was taken. This approach ranged over a total system design including structural design and construction method design, through the design of many types of robots for use in this system. A new robot modularization was developed, and our own design technology was created.