Robotic deployment on construction sites: considerations for safety and productivity impact

TL;DR

This paper discusses deploying semi-autonomous mobile robots on construction sites, highlighting safety concerns, environmental challenges, and the impact on productivity based on real-world collaborations.

Contribution

It provides practical insights and experiences from deploying robots in construction environments, emphasizing safety considerations and operational challenges.

Findings

Robots can enhance productivity and safety in construction.

Deployment challenges include environment variability and safety risks.

Real-world deployment experiences inform best practices.

Abstract

Deploying mobile robots in construction sites to collaborate with workers or perform automated tasks such as surveillance and inspections carries the potential to greatly increase productivity, reduce human errors, and save costs. However ensuring human safety is a major concern, and the rough and dynamic construction environments pose multiple challenges for robot deployment. In this paper, we present the insights we obtained from our collaborations with construction companies in Canada and discuss our experiences deploying a semi-autonomous mobile robot in real construction scenarios.