Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC)

Abstract

Automation and robotic applications for use in the North American construction industry are currently under development at numerous university and industry laboratories.A number of these applications have been tested under simulated or actual jobsite conditions; some have provided enough information to determine technical success or economic feasibility of the technology.Further development of robotics applications for the construction industry will be achieved by a combination of university research and development and jobsite experimentation in the private and government sectors. EARTHWORK APPLICATIONSExamples of automation and robotic applications on North American jobsites include automated precision guidance systems for construction machinery and remote-controlled devices to inspect or rehabilitate structures.Automated excavation grade control using laser surveying equipment combined with electro-hydraulic feedback control systems mounted on bulldozers, motor graders, scrapers, etc. has been used for civil earthwork applications.In highway grading, large parking lots, and canals , these techniques have reduced costs in some cases by over 80 percent and improved quality (e.g., subgrade thickness tolerances of 2 percent versus 10-20 percent).These methods substitute lower-cost machines (e.g., small bulldozers for motor graders) and lower-skilled operators, while improving quality.11,2]