Cobot uptake in construction: embedding collaborative robots in digital construction processes

The paper at hand investigates the interrelation of automation and collaboration in digital construction processes. Labor shortage, demographic change, and a deficit in productivity motivate automation in construction. While the automation of single tasks is on its way, there is a lack of collaboration between automated equipment and robots along the digital construction process. To foster the development of collaborating robots, definitions and classification criteria for automation and collaboration activities are given. With these criteria at hand, it is possible to classify scientific examples from literature. On top of that, the paper introduces a prototyping framework for automated and collaborative equipment. The framework is thoroughly tested in an earthworks case study consisting of automated and collaborative excavation and compacting of an area. Through the collaboration of an automated excavator and vibratory plate, it is possible to simultaneously execute the ‘excavation’ and ‘compaction’ task, speeding up the overall earthworks process by a factor of almost two. Along with a higher productivity, the high degree of automation allows for safer work, as less workers are exposed to dangerous workspaces and the quality increases through continuous quality checking and integrated documentation of as-built data in BIM models.