Automated Building Assembly: Developments toward Automated Building Machines

Since 1851, an agenda for automation in construction has shifted to respond to global conflicts and disasters. Over the past 70 years, tools, machines, and robotic manipulators have been developed to enhance human capabilities and perform difficult and repetitive tasks or dangerous tasks. From the 2000s to present day, our agenda for automation in construction has shifted again in response to global housing crisis, labor shortages, and digital technology disruptions. These advancements toward automation in construction make it possible to produce affordable housing of better quality more efficiently and safer traditional means of construction requiring extensive human labor. This paper builds upon an existing survey of automation in construction from 1851 to present day by defining a contemporary agenda for the continued development of three distinct approaches to automation in construction categorized as: (1) off-site automated prefabrication, (2) on-site single purpose automation, and (3) on-site automated factory.