System Architecture for Supporting BIM to Robotic Construction Integration

Abstract

The adoption of robotics into the construction industry has been progressing slower than in the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Current shortfalls in skilled labor, productivity trends, and ongoing safety challenges point to the need for a drastic shift toward adopting robotics. Addressing these shortfalls would be a necessary component of the shift toward industrializing the construction industry. Despite this lag in technology adoption, the interest and development of robotic technology targeting the construction industry has grown in recent years and is ranging from the use of drones for tracking to advances in offsite fabrication. However, the integration into fundamental site construction necessitates reconsidering the information technology infrastructure needed to support detailed task execution information needs in the change from craft labor to robotic operations. This research presents the identification and mapping of the Information Technology (IT) system architecture required to support building information modeling (BIM) to robotic construction. Combining elements of BIM architecture and information exchanges with the needed construction task decomposition is required. These elements are mapped to the robotic system elements vital for mobile robotic operations. In addition to defining the functions and integration required to support the BIM to robotic Construction Workflow, shortcomings in existing infrastructure, notably regarding the ability to decompose construction fabrication and assembly means and methods, are defined.