Designing for Automated Construction

Abstract

The majority of automated construction research and development has been bottom-up, from the construction/engineering side rather than top-down from the design end. In order to optimize the use of automated technology, it is important that design principles based on the technology are considered. This paper seeks to address topics related to designing robotic systems for construction, and developing overall design principles for top-down architect/design applications. The research herein is divided into a theoretical research programme for the purpose of deriving a simple shape grammar and a simulation research programme for understanding component connections and robotic manipulation. The second part of this paper introduces a concept automated construction system designed according to the principles derived from the investigation.