Exploring Classification Features of On-Site Construction Robots

Robotics is emerging as both a critical need and an opportunity in the construction industry. In recent decades, researchers have been working to make robots more involved in construction production, with recent emphasis on moving from use in prefabrication to field construction. As robotics and automation technology are rapidly evolving, more robots are being developed and implemented to contribute to construction. In addition to this, as the construction industry explores the need for automation, a variety of different construction activities are expected to be completed or improved through the implementation of robotics. However, when construction planners decide to implement robots in a project, selecting the proper robot based on the needs of the specific task becomes a new challenge. This study explores options for how to aggregate and classify features for construction robots and organize these features to help construction planners. To address this challenge, this study explored robot classification characteristics applied in various industries and organized these characteristics according to the implementation needs of robots in the construction industry. This study considered classification features in two domains, including industrial robots and construction-specific robots. Through literature review, this study collected the classification features, including application, locomotion, level of autonomy, use case, and basic task. Based on each classification feature, this study further collected and summarized the corresponding classification elements.