The economical interest of robots for construction sites is not yet fully asserted. Existing experimental robots are still complex and costly machines. Most of these future robots are likely to be mobile robots. It is then essential to research simple technical solutions to ensure the mobility function. Attempts to use guiding devices developed for industrial purposes have given informations on the technical and economical limits of many systems. The use of the environment structuration of a building under construction to guide a mobile robot is probably a suitable way to develop simple navigation systems. This paper reviews some of the existing systems, presents an original experiment and draws out the lines of future research that will probably lead to propose modifications of the construction techniques in order to be able to use simple and cheap navigation systems.

Robotics techniques in operation in the industry or under development in laboratories supply basic functions to carry out many different operations. Some of these techniques are compatible with construction sites operations under reasonable economic constraints, some other are not (too fragile, too costly, ...). Obviously, construction site operations are executed by means of a set of basic functions (handling, pouring, spraying, ...). It is then interesting to detail the parameters of these functions in order to compare the needs with the potential capacities of robotics techniques.From such a comparison, we expect to point out the needs and demands of professionals for robotizing construction operations. We also expect to draw out the main lines of the evolutions of construction techniques that will be necessary to fit with the capacities of robotics techniques. The backbone of this study is a classification of construction operations that helps to split operations in tasks and tasks in basic functions. The parameters of each function are defined with professionals. This information is then processed in order to reach the assigned goals. This paper presents the main lines of this study and states the major results and difficulties in carrying out this work.