Query: construction robotics

title: A review of collective robotic construction
abstract: Collective robotic construction concerns multirobot systems that modify their environment according to high level user specified goals. The increasing need for safe, inexpensive, and sustainable construction, combined with novel technological enablers, has made large scale construction by robot teams an active research area. Collective robotic construction (CRC) specifically concerns embodied, autonomous, multirobot systems that modify a shared environment according to high level user specified goals. CRC tightly integrates architectural design, the construction process, mechanisms, and control to achieve scalability and adaptability. This review gives a comprehensive overview of research trends, open questions, and performance metrics.

title: Autonomous Tool Construction Using Part Shape and Attachment Prediction
abstract: This work explores the problem of robot tool construction creating tools from parts available in the environment. We advance the state of the art in robotic tool construction by introducing an approach that enables the robot to construct a wider range of tools with greater computational efficiency. Specifically, given an action that the robot wishes to accomplish and a set of building parts available to the robot, our approach reasons about the shape of the parts and potential ways of attaching them, generating a ranking of part combinations that the robot then uses to construct and test the target tool. We validate our approach on the construction of five tools using a physical 7 DOF robot arm.

title: Dual Arm Construction Robot with Remote Control Function
abstract: In disaster areas, operating heavy construction equipment remotely and autonomously is necessary, but conventional remote controlled heavy equipment has problems such as insufficient operability, limited mobility on slopes and stairs, and low work efficiency because of difficult remote control. As part of the ImPACT TRC Program, a group of Japanese researchers attempts to solve these problems by developing a construction robot for disaster relief tasks with a new mechanism and new control methods. This chapter presents the overview of construction robot and the details of main elemental technologies making up the robot. Section 5.1 describes the basic configuration of the robot and the teleoperation system. Section 5.2 is a tether powered drone which provides extra visual information. Sections 5.4 and 5.3 are force and tactile feedback for skillful teleoperation. Section 5.5 is visual information feedback which consists of an arbitrary viewpoint visualization system and a visible and LWIR camera system to observe surrounding of the robot in a dark night scene and/or a very foggy scene. These functions can dramatically increase construction equipment's capacity to deal with large scale disasters and accidents.

title: New STIFF FLOP module construction idea for improved actuation and sensing
abstract: MRI compatibility, which often is a requirement for the new medical soft robot projects, greatly reduces available actuation methods and sensors. An example of such project is STIFF FLOP, which aims to develop a soft silicone manipulator actuated by pressure. The current arm construction and method of actuation cause several undesirable effects, which pose problems for actuation and sensing. In this paper, the authors identify the source of those negative effects and propose improvements over the current construction to eliminate or limit their influence. The new construction concept is tested and compared with the current one. Possible ideas for further development are also proposed.

title: Multirobot online construction of communication maps
abstract: The importance of communication in many multirobot information gathering tasks requires the availability of reliable communication maps. These provide estimates of the radio signal strength and can be used to predict the presence of communication links between different locations of the environment. In the problem we consider, a team of mobile robots has to build such maps autonomously in a robot to robot communication setting. The solution we propose models the signal's distribution with a Gaussian Process and exploits different online sensing strategies to coordinate and guide the robots during their data acquisition. Our methods show interesting operative insights both in simulations and on real TurtleBot 2 platforms.

title: Robots on construction sites: The potential and challenges of on site digital fabrication
abstract: Advances in materials, processes, and their implementation using purpose designed robots will change the construction sector. The construction sector is a reluctant adopter of new technology, but advances in materials, processes, and their implementation using purpose designed robots aim to change this.

title: Construction automation with autonomous mobile robots: A review
abstract: In this paper, we review state of the art research into automated construction by autonomous mobile robots. Today, space research agencies seek to build infrastructure without human intervention; and construction companies look to robots as having the potential to achieve improvements in construction quality, efficiency, and safety, not to mention flexibility in architectural design. This paper addresses and classifies the relevant studies in terms of applications, materials, and robotic systems. We also identify ongoing challenges and discuss about future robotic requirements for the automated construction.

title: TERMES: An Autonomous Robotic System for Three Dimensional Collective Construction
abstract: Collective construction is the research area in which autonomous multi robot systems build structures according to user specifications. Here we present a hardware system and high level control scheme for autonomous construction of 3D structures under conditions of gravity. The hardware comprises a mobile robot and specialized passive blocks; the robot is able to manipulate blocks to build desired structures, and can maneuver on these structures as well as in unstructured environments. We describe and evaluate the robot's key capabilities of climbing, navigation, and manipulation, and demonstrate its ability to perform complex tasks that combine these capabilities by having it autonomously build a ten block staircase taller than itself. In addition, we outline a simple decentralized control algorithm by which multiple simultaneously active robots could autonomously build user specified structures, working from a high level description as input.

title: An architecture for universal construction via modular robotic components
abstract: A set of modular components is presented for use in reconfigurable robotic construction systems. The set includes passive and active components. The passive components can be formed into static structures and adaptable grids carrying electrical power and signals. Passive and active components can be combined into general purpose mobile manipulators which are able to augment and reconfigure the grid, construct new manipulators, and potentially perform general purpose fabrication tasks such as additive manufacturing. The components themselves are designed for low cost, simple fabrication methods and could potentially be fabricated by constructors made of the same components. This work represents a step toward a Cyclic Fabrication System, a network of materials, tools, and manufacturing processes that can produce all of its constituent components. These and similar systems have been proposed for a wide range of far term applications, including space based manufacturing, construction of large scale industrial facilities, and also for driving development of low cost 3D printing machines.

title: Robotic construction of arbitrary shapes with amorphous materials
abstract: We present a locally reactive algorithm to construct arbitrary shapes with amorphous materials. The goal is to provide methods for robust robotic construction in unstructured, cluttered terrain, where deliberative approaches with pre fabricated construction elements are difficult to apply. Amorphous materials provide a simple way to interface with existing obstacles, as well as irregularly shaped previous depositions. The local reactive nature of these algorithms allows robots to recover from disturbances, operate in dynamic environments, and provides a way to work with scalable robot teams.