Are Autonomous Mobile Robots Able to Take Over Construction? A Review

Although construction has been known as a highly complex application field for autonomous robotic systems, recent advances in this field offer great hope for using robotic capabilities to develop automated construction. Today, space research agencies seek to build infrastructures without human intervention, and construction companies look to robots with the potential to improve construction quality, efficiency, and safety, not to mention flexibility in architectural design. However, unlike production robots used, for instance, in automotive industries, autonomous robots should be designed with special consideration for challenges such as the complexity of the cluttered and dynamic working space, human-robot interactions and inaccuracy in positioning due to the nature of mobile systems and the lack of affordable and precise self-positioning solutions. This paper briefly reviews state-ofthe-art research into automated construction by autonomous mobile robots. We address and classify the relevant studies in terms of applications, materials, and robotic systems. We also identify ongoing challenges and discuss about future robotic requirements for automated construction.

Functional and Adaptive Construction for Rescue

Hadi Ardiny

Although recent advances in the field of robotics have greatly increased robotic capabilities for several applications, autonomous robots are still in their infancy regarding their support of onsite construction. Unlike production robots that are used, for instance, in automotive industries, autonomous robotic systems should be designed with special considerations, such as the complexity of the cluttered and dynamic working space, inaccuracy in positioning because of the nature of mobile systems, and so forth. Thus, construction has been known as a highly complex application field for robotic systems, especially in unknown environments. In this thesis, we focus on the developments of an autonomous construction system by taking inspiration from architectural designs found in the animal kingdom. The construction system allows robots to build functional structures over a different range of environmental conditions or in unknown sites without the use of any predefined construction plan (i.e., blueprint). We call this approach adaptive and functional autonomous construction (AFAC). Indeed, AFAC is a robust and intelligent system that can tackle unforeseen problems of unknown environments and faults made during the course of building. We present two approaches for AFAC. One is a local approach that enables robots to locally sense features of their environment and then act immediately according to defined rules without using any global representation or knowledge of the world. Second is a global approach, which involves building structures by analysing global representations and knowledge produced by the robots. This approach consists of three phases: the first phase is exploration, to map the unknown environment and to find important elements. In the second phase, an effective construction plan is autonomously computed using collected data and the defined functions. Finally, in the last phase, the robot builds structures based on the computed construction plan. One interesting implementation of the introduced construction system is its potential use in a post disaster environment, where an autonomous robotic system can perform construction tasks in the rescue operation. Robots can be employed to build protective structures for rescue functions, including stabilizing large structures or protecting victims in unknown environments, where the environment are perhaps covered by debris. Inasmuch as the robots cannot plan in advance to build these structures, the rescue application is a well suited case for the study and implementation of AFAC in unknown and cluttered environments. Through implementation of AFAC in the rescue situations, we develop AFAC from scratch to the level at which the robots can autonomously apply AFAC's principles for use in the new classes of construction applications. We also study and compare the local and global approaches of AFAC. In addition, we develop new exploration methods and construction plan computation methodologies for the global approach to efficiently lead AFAC.

EPFL2017

Safety Issues in Human-Robot Interactions

Aude Billard, Milos Vasic

Safety is an important consideration in human-robot interactions. Robots can perform powerful movements that can cause hazards to humans surrounding them. To prevent accidents, it is important to identify sources of potential harm, to determine which of the persons in the robot’s vicinity may be in greatest peril and to assess the type of injuries the robot may cause to this person. This survey starts with a review of the safety issues in industrial settings, where robots manipulate dangerous tools and move with extreme rapidity and force. We then move to covering issues related to the growing numbers of autonomous mobile robots that operate in crowded (human-inhabited) environments. We discuss the potential benefits of fully autonomous cars on safety on roads and for pedestrians. Lastly, we cover safety issues related to assistive robots.

2013

Autonomous Construction of Separated Artifacts by Mobile Robots Using SLAM and Stigmergy

Hadi Ardiny, Francesco Mondada, Stefan John Witwicki

Autonomous mobile robots equipped with arms have the potential to be used for automated construction of structures in various sizes and shapes, such as houses or other infrastructures. Existing construction processes, like many other additive manufacturing processes, are mostly based on precise positioning, which is achieved by machines that have a fixed mechanical link with the construction and therefore relying on absolute positioning. Mobile robots, by nature, do not have a fixed referential point, and their positioning systems are not as accurate as fixed-based systems. Therefore, mobile robots have to employ new technologies and/or methods to implement precise construction processes. In contrast to the majority of prior work on autonomous construction that has relied only on external tracking systems (e.g., GPS) or exclusively on short-range relative localization (e.g., stigmergy), this paper explores localization methods based on a combination of long-range self-positioning and short-range relative localization for robots to construct precise, separated artifacts in particular situations, such as in outer space or in indoor environments, where external support is not an option. Achieving both precision and autonomy in construction tasks requires understanding the environment and physically interacting with it. Consequently, we must evaluate the robot’s key capabilities of navigation and manipulation for performing the construction in order to analyze the impact of these capabilities on a predefined construction. In this paper, we focus on the precision of autonomous construction of separated artifacts. This domain motivates us to combine two methods used for the construction: 1) a self-positioning system and 2) a short-distance relative localization. We evaluate our approach on a miniature mobile robot that autonomously maps an environment using a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm; the robot’s objective is then to manipulate blocks to build desired artifacts based on a plan given by a human. Our results illuminate practical issues for future applications that also need to integrate complex tasks under mobile robot constraints.