Integration of 4D BIM and Robot Task Planning: Creation and Flow of Construction-Related Information for Action-Level Simulation of Indoor Wall Frame Installation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a framework that integrates 4D BIM with robot task planning, enabling context-aware simulation of construction tasks like wall frame installation, addressing a key gap in construction robotization.

Contribution

It presents a novel integration method of 4D BIM and robot planning, including a construction robot knowledge base and information flow for detailed simulation.

Findings

Successful high-level robot task planning within 4D BIM environment

Enhanced simulation accuracy for construction robot operations

Potential for systematic, context-aware construction automation

Abstract

An obstacle toward construction robotization is the lack of methods to plan robot operations within the entire construction planning process. Despite the strength in modeling construction site conditions, 4D BIM technologies cannot perform construction robot task planning considering the contexts of given work environments. To address this limitation, this study presents a framework that integrates 4D BIM and robot task planning, presents an information flow for the integration, and performs high-level robot task planning and detailed simulation. The framework uniquely incorporates a construction robot knowledge base that derives robot-related modeling requirements to augment a 4D BIM model. Then, the 4D BIM model is converted into a robot simulation world where a robot performs a sequence of actions retrieving construction-related information. A case study focusing on the interior wall frame installation demonstrates the potential of systematic integration in achieving context-aware robot task planning and simulation in construction environments.