A review of collective robotic construction

Abstract

The increasing need for safe, inexpensive, and sustainable construction, combined with novel technological enablers, has made large-scale construction by robot teams an active research area. Collective robotic construction (CRC) specifically concerns embodied, autonomous, multirobot systems that modify a shared environment according to high-level user-specified goals. CRC tightly integrates architectural design, the construction process, mechanisms, and control to achieve scalability and adaptability. This review gives a comprehensive overview of research trends, open questions, and performance metrics.

SMAC: Symbiotic Multi-Agent Construction

“…In the literature, robots such as wheg-equipped [16], aerial [19], quadrupedal [20], and bipedal robots [14], [18] have demonstrated the traversal of simple 3D structures to place building material with varying levels of dexterity and control complexity [1]. In the quest for a versatile design with low control complexity, we identified an inchworm-inspired platform as a satisfactory solution [14], [18].…”

“…The design space of possible approaches to collective construction is vast, and it requires a careful co-design of hardware, software, and fabrication [1]. A particularly important open problem is how to coordinate the construction process autonomously.…”

Inspection-while-flying: An autonomous contact-based nondestructive test using UAV-tools

“…The expectation of UAVs has shifted to another level, wherein the flying system interacts with its environment, people and other robots in order to contribute decision-making process [27,28,29]. In this context, one of their use in the transportation of concrete beams is investigated in [30].…”

Multi-resolution in architecture as a design driver for additive manufacturing applications

“…1 Recent trends have registered that digitization, advanced automation, and new technologies and materials are beginning to affect the construction industry. 2,3 Nonetheless, it is critical to develop efficient techniques and computational methods tailored for architectural scale applications, in order to implement AM in the building industry 4 and to harness the potential augment in productivity that is seen in other industries. 5…”