Development and Implementation of Robotics in Construction A Case Study of a Contractor Firm

Abstract

The construction industry lacks behind other industries in applying advanced technologies like robotics. There is a growing demand on implementing robots in the construction activities which are described as time and cost consuming, and hard for the human being to handle, but there are obstacles that hinder this implementation and push back towards using conventional methods in constructing. The purpose of this research is to investigate the barriers that prevent the robotics from being used widely in the construction activities, and provide relevant proposals that helps facilitating robots on construction sites. Since information management and change management are the two main facilitators that the construction industry lacks comparing to other industries, a further attention is given to these aspects in order to make the construction organisations more open for robotisation. Semi-structured interviews are used to derive qualitative data that help understand, analyse and enhance this research. BIM and The robot oriented design are found to play essential roles when employing robotics. This study answers questions regarding what to improve and how to improve it in order to serve the mentioned purpose of this research. Further studies are needed to establish a full understanding of other relevant subjects like the change in the supply chain, the business model and logistics which will be needed for robotics implementation.