The research is organized around three thrusts, each focused on overcoming a specific barrier to the adoption of robotic technologies on construction sites: Thrust #1 (Penn State): The hierarchy of construction tasks for robots; Thrust #2 (Clemson): the design of human-robot teams that leverage emerging technologies and methods within the construction domain; and Thrust #3 (University of Florida): the modeling of industrialized project networks needed to manage the roles of robots.
The goal of Thrust #3 is to model the changing roles and interfaces of workers (both human and robot), operational knowledge needs, site resources and construction tasks. This goal will be achieved through the completion of three objectives. The first objective will determine how human workers on construction teams perceive robotic systems as network nodes in an industrialized construction site, using cultural consensus analysis and semi-structured interviews. The second objective will determine what network linkages are necessary to support robotics on construction sites, using focus groups and embedded researchers. Lastly, the third objective will determine whether the addition of robots on construction sites makes the project more (or less) vulnerable to unplanned events. This objective will use meta-network analysis to consider the state of the industrialized network, both before and after a simulated disruption. Taken together, this thrust will develop a thorough understanding of the impact that robotic systems will have on the resilience of industrialized construction networks, as well as the conditions that make site operations more vulnerable to uncertainty
