Automation and Robotics in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry PDF
Preview Automation and Robotics in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry
Houtan Jebelli Mahmoud Habibnezhad Shayan Shayesteh · Somayeh Asadi SangHyun Lee Editors Automation and Robotics in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry Automation and Robotics in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry Houtan Jebelli Mahmoud Habibnezhad Shayan Shayesteh • Somayeh Asadi SangHyun Lee Editors Automation and Robotics in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry Editors Houtan Jebelli Mahmoud Habibnezhad Department of Architectural Engineering Department of Architectural Engineering Pennsylvania State University Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA, USA University Park, PA, USA Shayan Shayesteh Somayeh Asadi Department of Architectural Engineering Department of Architectural Engineering Pennsylvania State University Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA, USA University Park, PA, USA SangHyun Lee Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI, USA ISBN 978-3-030-77162-1 ISBN 978-3-030-77163-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77163-8 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface In the early twentieth century, construction witnessed the emergence of heavy machines at job sites, a revolutionary transformation from animal and human- powered machines to those powered by diesel engines, hydraulic pumps, and elec- tric motors. A century later, yet another transformation began, this time directed at adopting intelligent machines, autonomous vehicles, and perceptive cyber-physical systems. This paradigmatic shift is intended to respond to stagnant productivity, labor shortage, aging workforce, and unsafe environments of construction sites, which has become possible due to the advent of sensing technologies, computer processing powers, and artificial intelligence. In the last few years, the number of start-up companies in robotics has multiplied, particularly in autonomous mobility. Even the giants of construction machinery have started to make investments in emergent technology and intelligent machines. Caterpillar Inc. has recently bought a robotics-based company, Marble Robot, to boost its research efforts on the next generation of unmanned heavy machines. Bobcat Company has teamed up with QinetiQ North America to transform compact equipment into a remote-control vehicle. Volvo Group has invested in Apex.AI to become one of the forefronts of safety-certified autonomous systems. The exponential growth of robotic systems is not limited to unmanned vehicles. 3D printing robots have already found their way into the construction industry, with the capacity to build houses in a few days with almost half the price of the comparable ones. Construction robotics has designed and engineered a commercially available brick-laying robotic arm capable of laying bricks with lower cost and labor. The same company has introduced a lift-assist robot for lifting and placing heavy materials with minimal effort. These advance- ments in construction robotics have provided an unparallel opportunity to automate repetitive tasks with robots, handle strenuous activities using wearable and lift- assist machines, replace ambulatory surveys and inspections with unmanned aerial vehicles–based monitoring, and perform dangerous tasks remotely through telerobotics. As promising as these innovations appear to be, the scalability, extendibility, and ubiquity of robotics systems are still unknown. Several ambiguities concerning the role of the human workforce in future job sites need to be resolved, which merits v vi Preface immediate attention and investigation. Suppose construction robots become preva- lent in the fields. In that case, they will have sweeping effects on the physiological and psychophysiological states of human workers, safety and productivity expecta- tions, and human-robot trusts as well as the necessary competencies of workers, engineers, and other construction personnel. Multiple questions need to be addressed promptly. What are the societal, economic, and environmental impacts of these sys- tems? How do workers perceive robots at the job sites and vice versa? What educa- tion and training should be developed, and how they need to be conveyed? What are the directions of improvements of construction robots, and how the related chal- lenges can be timely and effectively addressed? What areas of construction can most benefit from the adoption of robotics systems? These fundamental questions help the industry prepare for introducing, implementing, and continuing robotics solutions in construction working environments. Moreover, the ever-existing safety challenges in the construction industry may manifest themselves in new forms in construction robotics, with a myriad of uncer- tainties and ambiguities. In the last 20 years, reports have unequivocally demon- strated that the construction industry has not been able to reduce the number of death and injuries at construction sites. Specifically, within the same time frame, the statistics show that the fatality rates of fieldworkers have generally remained con- stant, somehow invariable to the safety practices, regulations, and protocols in place. This immutable safety condition has been mainly linked to the dynamic and changing environment of construction sites wherein construction workers perform an array of manual activities in isolation from or collaboration with heavy machin- ery. While construction robotics aims to address these challenges, they require human supervision/intervention to deliver the work. The reason lies in the design complexities of robots in working or even surviving in the dynamically changing environment of construction sites. As a result, human-robot interaction/collabora- tion is required. Yet, as history teaches, these interactions can lead to accidents, similar to those that occur every day at construction job sites. Aggravatedly, the control of heavy machinery is by human operators, while the movement of robots is based on predefined codes with possible model- and system-level errors. This can have a detrimental effect on human-robot collaboration safety. Moreover, accidents can happen due to the soar of cognitive workload and men- tal and physiological stress during interaction with robots, possibly the direct effects of the unparallel performance of robots compared to their human peers as well as worker-robot mistrust and misadaptation. Furthermore, human workers cannot rec- ognize or predict the robot’s motion legibility because of their expectations of the robot’s human-like movement, which, of course, deviates from reality. These remarks stress the need for comprehensive investigations to understand influential factors affecting safety in human-robot interactions, which has not been most likely contemplated at any depth by the early adopters of construction robots. Based on these gaps, the editors of this book were persuaded that there is a need for comprehensive, evidence-based insight and view of current and future automa- tion and robotics in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. As such, the editors compiled this book to illuminate the challenges, opportunities, and Preface vii needs in adopting robots in the construction industry. This book attempts to con- struct the road map and delineate directions of improvements for a successful transi- tion towards construction robotization. It is the fruition of several scientific investigations on priorities and barriers towards robotic technologies and deploy- ment in construction. Notably, the collection leverages the research findings of sev- eral contributors from the Pennsylvania State University, University of Michigan, University of Florida, University of Alabama, University of Illinois at Chicago, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Washington State University, and Institute of Construction Materials. Even though the contents and orders of the chapters follow a logical flow, the book does not have a textbook structure. This allows the readers to jump to the pre- ferred chapter and understand the deliverables without much hassle. The presented knowledge in each chapter is supported by adequate explanation and elaboration, making it easier for the layperson to understand. But, there are very few chapters with algorithms and mathematical modeling that might be overwhelming for ordi- nary readers. In those, the authors attempted to provide the importance of research, the gaps in the existing methods, references to other work, in-depth discussion, and thought-provoking conclusion, all to facilitate the comprehension of the presented science. We hope this book can deliver its message to a wide group of industry profes- sionals and academic scholars and anyone interested in obtaining a better under- standing of construction robotics and the potential opportunities and the daunting challenges. By reading this book, learners can have a new insight into construction robots and workplaces of tomorrow, which can help them make better decisions on the required competencies for future jobs in construction. Similarly, educators and practitioners can leverage the information presented in this compilation and appro- priately infuse them into curriculums and training at different scales. Finally, it could be of interest for field engineers who had come across smart machines, con- struction robots, and aerial and terrestrial vehicles in the field but not studied them beforehand. University Park, PA, USA Houtan Jebelli Mahmoud Habibnezhad Shayan Shayesteh Somayeh Asadi Ann Arbor, MI, USA SangHyun Lee Contents 1 Automation and Robotics Technologies Deployment Trends in Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Fopefoluwa M. Bademosi and Raja R. A. Issa 2 Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required for Talent Cultivation in Construction Automation and Robotics . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Fopefoluwa M. Bademosi and Raja R. A. Issa 3 Robotics and Automation in Construction (RAC): Priorities and Barriers Toward Productivity Improvement in Civil Infrastructure Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Abolfazl Seyrfar, Hossein Ataei, and Ibrahim Osman 4 Construction Automation and Sustainable Development . . . . . . . . . . 73 Mohammadsoroush Tafazzoli 5 A Briefing on Technological, Societal, and Economical Aspects of Automation in Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Farid Sartipi 6 Human-Drone Interaction (HDI): Opportunities and Considerations in Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Gilles Albeaino, Masoud Gheisari, and Raja R. A. Issa 7 Safety Challenges of Human-Drone Interactions on Construction Jobsites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Idris Jeelani and Masoud Gheisari 8 Assessing the Role of Wearable Robotics in the Construction Industry: Potential Safety Benefits, Opportunities, and Implementation Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Ifeanyi Okpala, Chukwuma Nnaji, Omobolanle Ogunseiju, and Abiola Akanmu ix x Contents 9 Worker-Aware Task Planning for Construction Robots: A Physiologically Based Communication Channel Interface . . . . . . . 181 Yizhi Liu, Mahmoud Habibnezhad, and Houtan Jebelli 10 Workers’ Trust in Collaborative Construction Robots: EEG-Based Trust Recognition in an Immersive Environment . . . . . . 201 Shayan Shayesteh, Amit Ojha, and Houtan Jebelli Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Chapter 1 Automation and Robotics Technologies Deployment Trends in Construction Fopefoluwa M. Bademosi and Raja R. A. Issa Abstract The construction industry has remained very much less digitized than similar mature industries, with a good number of its activities being laborious and monotonous. With the construction industry gradually entering the era of industrial- ization and digitization, there is an opportunity to increasingly change the tradi- tional approach of designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining buildings and infrastructure. The era of technological disruption ushers in the penetration of innovative construction tools, including automation and robotics technologies, in the industry. In construction, automation and robotics processes involve the autono- mous execution of tasks and processes through intelligent programming and control of machines. This chapter explores the current state of automation and robotics technologies deployment in the construction industry and discusses potential auto- mation and robotics applications in different aspects of construction projects. Construction companies can use these technologies to benchmark their technology adoption efforts. Keywords Construction · Automation · Robotics · Industrialization · Digitization · Industry 4.0 F. M. Bademosi () Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA, USA e-mail: [email protected] R. R. A. Issa University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 1 H. Jebelli et al. (eds.), Automation and Robotics in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77163-8_1
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