construction automation helps in standard control and reduces construction time. Various applications and advantages of automation in construction is discussed.
The scope of construction automation is wide and involves the entire construction stages for instance production of construction material, prefabrication of construction components, on site construction, operation and maintenance of buildings, and demolition and recycling of frameworks.
Automation of construction addresses various and serious issues related to construction for example, low standard of final product, shortages of skilled labor, safety of labor, poor weather condition, and short construction period which nowadays are features of project.
If automation building is practiced, building work will be continuous and hence building period will decrease and this will provide large economic advantages. Additionally, building automation improves protection of labors and enhances quality of the work.
In this article the advantages and application of construction automation and robotics will be discussed.
It has been long time since almost 100% automation is achieved and applied in the construction substance production for instance cement, steel, glass, aluminum, and wood. Approximately partial automation robotics is used in road construction, tunneling, and earthworks.
Regarding concrete precast component production, large degree of automation is utilized and necessary number of precast components can be produced as per buyer’s demand.
The automation of precast components is very beneficial because it offers products which its quality is not changing and waste of the factory is declined.
This decrease of factory waste is made possible because of using required amount of materials which is arranged with the help of computer planning and programming.
Stationary mixer plants are not an exception and substantial degree of automation and robotics are employed for quite long time.
As far as on site building automation and robotics is concern, there are several apparatuses which has been used for different purposes on project site for instance concrete screeding (Figure-3), finishing (Figure-4), scrubbing, and cleaning.
Moreover, there is partially automated overhead construction factory system that was developed by Obayashi Corp. used for the construction of high rise reinforced concrete frame as shown in Figure-5 and Figure-6.
Finally, as it can be seen from the figures, the machine covers the entire structure and its cranes are partially automated, prefabricate parts of concrete panels, material storage administration and providing materials on construction site are computerized, and finally the erection of the structure is partially automated.
Automation and robotics in masonry prefabrication play substantial role and has considerable advantages because not only it substantially raise the production of masonry blocks but also it decrease manpower and labor cost. Plants that produced masonry elements may be completely automatic or partially automated and individually designed masonry blocks can be prefabricated.
Prefabricating masonry blocks and bricks is not free from obstacles and difficulty for example installing such automatic plant need huge amount of money which can become considerable obstacle.
Apart from automated masonry element, automation and robotics are also used to lay bricks such as shown Figure-9 which can lay up to 1000 bricks in an hour.
Wood prefabrication automation and robotic have progressed to some extent specifically in Germany. Wood processing has shifted from manually processing to complete processing utilizing compute numerical controlling machines.
There are automated plants which produced prefabricated house components and very limited hand work is involved. Figure-10 shows an automated machine that employed for fabrication of framing. And multifunctional robotic wooden wall unit are shown in Figure-11.
Automation and robotic have been used to a great extent by steel companies which prefabricate building components according to contractor demand. It must be said that automation and robotics are not used in erection process to a great extent; manual welding screwing is used during construction. The steel components will be transferred to undertaking site for erection.
Utilization of steel in the house construction is very low but there are factories which prefabricate components of houses using automation and robotics as shown in Figure-12.
It is reported that such facility produces five to ten thousand houses per year and it produces 120m 2 in just two and half minute, and the house can be erected in four hours.
Lastly, Figure-13 show a transformable automated welding robot in an integrated automated building building which led to decrease work force up to approximately seventy percent.