Survey on automation of the building construction and building products industryPentti Vh | Tapio Heikkil | Pekka Kilpelinen | Markku Jrviluoma | Rauno Heikkil

VISIO

NSS

CIE

NC

ET

ECHNOLOGY

RE

SE

AR

CH

HIGHLIGHTS

109

VTT TECHNOLOGY 109

Survey on automation of thebuilding construction andbuilding products industry

Pentti Vh, Tapio Heikkil, Pekka Kilpelinen

& Markku JrviluomaVTT

Rauno HeikkilUniversity of Oulu

2

ISBN 978-951-38-8031-6 (Soft back ed.)ISBN 978-951-38-8032-3 (URL: http://www.vtt.fi/publications/index.jsp)

VTT Technology 109

ISSN-L 2242-1211ISSN 2242-1211 (Print)ISSN 2242-122X (Online)

Copyright VTT 2013

JULKAISIJA UTGIVARE PUBLISHER

VTTPL 1000 (Tekniikantie 4 A, Espoo)02044 VTTPuh. 020 722 111, faksi 020 722 7001

VTTPB 1000 (Teknikvgen 4 A, Esbo)FI-02044 VTTTfn +358 20 722 111, telefax +358 20 722 7001

VTT Technical Research Centre of FinlandP.O. Box 1000 (Tekniikantie 4 A, Espoo)FI-02044 VTT, FinlandTel. +358 20 722 111, fax + 358 20 722 7001

Kopijyv Oy, Kuopio 2013

http://www.vtt.fi/publications/index.jsp

3

Survey on automation of the building construction and buildingproducts industry

Pentti Vh, Tapio Heikkil, Pekka Kilpelinen, Markku Jrviluoma & Rauno Heikkil.Espoo 2013. VTT Technology 109. 82 p.

AbstractA commonly held view is that the construction industry is labour-intensive, project-based, and slow to adopt emerging technologies compared to other project shopmanufacturing industries [Product-Process Matrix]. A construction site can beregarded as a project shop, since tools and manufacturing equipment arebrought on-site, whereas component prefabrication is a conventional shop, line orcell-structured. There have not been any dramatic changes in construction meth-ods in the last 40 years, although some methods have been developing. The con-struction Industry is also considered to be a conservative innovator and lateadopter of new technology. Therefore, construction is often considered a some-what old-fashioned industry. However, in the design phase, methods such asComputer Aided Design (CAD) and Finite Element Method (FEM) are commonlyadopted. Also Building Information Model (BIM) is increasingly applied in the de-sign and engineering phase.

The construction life cycle includes 1) Requirements identification, 2) Projectplanning, 3) Design and engineering 4) Construction, 5) Operations and mainte-nance, and 6) Decommissioning. The operation and maintenance phase is thelongest period during the life cycle of a building. Building Information Model (BIM),a digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a facility,covers e.g. geometry, spatial relationships, light analysis, geographic information,quantities and properties of building components with manufacturers' details. Themodel elements, representing the physical building parts, are digitally linked toinformation relevant to the model users, such as architects, engineers, contractorsand owners. BIM can be used to demonstrate the entire building life cycle, includ-ing processes of construction and facility operations, and finally to take the ad-vantage of its information in the demolition. From the life cycle point of view, BIMenables all stakeholders to share data throughout the entire life cycle of the build-ing. Currently, BIM is widely applied in the design and engineering phase, butthere have been very few efforts to explore the real-time integration of BIM to thesite and task conditions, and the interaction of BIM with the field crew. For fieldworkers, it is important to gain access to the most current model so as to be awareof possible changes made to the document [BIM, Beyond Clash Detection 2011]and [Wang et al. 2012].

Industrialization of building construction started in Japan around 1960, with theadvent of prefabricated houses made of steel and wood. High-rise building con-struction has become common since 1968, and automation and industrialization of

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building

4

building construction have been pursued since then [Shinko 2007]. Since 1988,major Japanese general contractors have investigated the potential complementa-tion of integrated robotic and automated building construction systems [Bock et al.2011]. Today, many construction operations have incorporated automated equip-ment, means, and methods into their regular practices. R&D activities are centringmore on ICT technologies, including on-site sensory data acquisition and pro-cessing, the human operators field safety and security and computer-based pro-cess control and monitoring as well as automated inventory and shop keeping,among many others. Although adaption of automation in the building constructionsector has been slow, the civil engineering sector has developed and adoptedseveral automated systems for industrial use. For example, Infra Information Mod-elling is currently under active research and development, especially in NorthernCountries.

Automation has had a notable impact in a wide range of industries in addition tomanufacturing. The principles of industrial automation are applicable to the con-struction sector, both to building construction, civil engineering (roadways, dams,bridges, etc.), and to the prefabrication of construction components. It is the appli-cation of electronic, mechanical and computer based systems so as to operateand control construction production.

Keywords construction automation, automated data acquisition, construction robotics,construction logistics, prefabrication

5

ContentsAbstract ........................................................................................................... 3

List of abbreviations ........................................................................................ 6

1. Motivations for building construction automation ................................... 81.1 Attitudes, resistance to change and willingness to adopt ...................... 91.2 Market acceptance ........................................................................... 10

2. Background and outline of the study ..................................................... 112.1 Conditions for building construction automation ................................. 132.2 Potential technologies for building construction automation ....................... 152.3 Sensor and model data integration for building construction automation

15

3. Data acquisition technologies for construction operations ................... 183.1 Positioning ....................................................................................... 203.2 Tracking ........................................................................................... 223.3 Progress monitoring.......................................................................... 253.4 Quality control .................................................................................. 28

4. Applications for building construction automation ................................ 304.1 Prefabrication ................................................................................... 314.2 Civil engineering ............................................................................... 364.3 Foundation construction .................................................................... 384.4 Frame erection ................................................................................. 394.5 Indoor works..................................................................................... 444.6 Yard works ....................................................................................... 464.7 Finishing works ................................................................................. 47

5. Experimental work for automation, robotics, digital design andmanufacturing in architecture................................................................. 50

6. Construction logistics ............................................................................. 58

7. Building construction cost ..................................................................... 62

8. Conclusions and challenges ................................................................... 68

Acknowledgements ....................................................................................... 71

References ..................................................................................................... 72

6

List of abbreviations

ABCS Automated Building Construction System

AEC Architecture, Engineering and Construction sector

AoA Angle-of-arrival

BACS Building Automation and Control System

BIM Building Information Model

CAD-CAM Computer-Aided Design Computer Aided Manufacturing

CAM Computer-Aided Manufacturing

CCC Construction Consolidation Centre

CCD Charge coupled device

CCI Construction Cost Index

CII Construction Industry Institute

CIM Computer-Integrated Manufacturing

CNC Computer numerical control

EBC Ergonomic boom control

EDM Electronic distance meter

ERP Enterprise Resource Planning

FEM Finite Element Method

GIS Geographic information systems

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

GPS Global Positioning System

HVAC Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distance

7

ICT Information and communication technology

IFC Industry Foundation Classes

LADAR Laser detection and ranging

LC Lean construction

LIDAR Light detection and raging

MEMS Micro Electro Mechanical System

NPL Network